Assignment series 13 2020A1208

AI GEARS UP TO FIGHT VIRUS CONTAGION

2020A1208

DEPARMENT OF CSE

YESWANTH S 181CS324

The Tech could be deployed against an outbreak

like the coronavirus if enough data on the new
disease is available.

Disease outbreaks like the coronavirus often unfold too quickly for the scientists
to find a complete cure. But in future we can do a much better job, because of the emergence
of artificial intelligence, which could help the researchers.
While it’s probably too late for this technology to play a role in the current
epidemic, it can be useful in case of a similar outbreak like this in the future. AI is good at
combining through mounds of data to find connections that make it easier to determine what
kind of treatments could work or which experiments to pursue next to avoid this kind of
epidemic.

GENE SEQUENCING
The question is what big data will come up with when it only gets little scraps of
information on a new viral strain like Covid-19, which emerged in china and has affected
more than 80,000 people in about two months. Data on this kinds of mass outbreaks will only
help us fight against it at initial stage itself.

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Assignment series 13 2020A1208

The fact that researchers managed to produce the gene sequencing of the new
virus within the weeks of the first reported cases is promising, since it shows there’s more
immediate data available now when outbreaks happen.

FASTER CLINICAL TESTING

Andrew Hopkins, chief executive of UK-based startup Exscientia Ltd. is
among those who are working to help train AI for the Drug discovery. He figures out new
treatments could go from conception to clinical testing in as little as 18 to 24 months within
the next decade, thanks to AI. Exscientia designed a new compound for treating an obsessive-
compulsive disorder that’s ready to be tested in the lab after less than a year in the initial
research phase.

ML FOR DRUG TESTING

Cambridge-based Healex has a similar approach, but it uses machine learning
to find new uses for existing drugs. Both companies feed their algorithms with information
gathered from sources such as journals, bio-medical databases and clinical trials – to suggest
new treatments for diseases. The two companies each use a team of human researches to
work alongside the AI to help guide the process.

HUMAN SUPERVISION
These two companies each use a team of human researchers to work
alongside the AI to help guide the process. In Exscientia’s approach, dubbed the Centaur
Chemist, drug designers help teach the algorithms strategies for searching for compounds.
Healex puts the AI’s predictions to researchers who analyse the results and decide what to
pursue.
Neil Thompson, Healex’s chief science officer, said the technique could be
deployed against an outbreak like the coronavirus as long as it had enough data on the new
disease. Healex isn’t working on tackling the coronavirus or tweaking its technology for
outbreaks, but it wouldn’t be a stretch.
Artificial Intelligence algorithms are already starting to churn out drugs for
the diseases we know about. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said
on that they’d used the method to identify a powerful new antibiotic compound that could kill
an array of troublesome bacteria, even that are currently resistant to other treatments.
To be effective, AI-based drug developers would have to plan ahead of
time, picking out a virus genome likely to cause problems in the future and targeting it when
there are few incentives to do so.