Imperial College London researchers working with the Fleming Initiative have collaborated with Google researchers to create a novel AI co-scientist that can assist with hypothesis generation. For antimicrobial resistance, where R&D costs can be prohibitive, this creates a significant opportunity.
"In convening this groundbreaking collaboration between researchers from Google and Imperial College London, the Fleming Initiative and I continue to demonstrate our commitment to supporting pioneering science, including AI. With an AI co-scientist, the process of hypothesis generation could be made more efficient which will be integral with widespread challenges such as antimicrobial resistance."
- Lord Ara Darzi, Executive Chair of the Fleming Initiative
"Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a pivotal component of the Fleming Initiative's work since its founding. The Fleming Initiative recognises the transformative potential of AI to make significant strides in understanding fundamental biology and in progressing antimicrobial resistance research. We were delighted to initiate this groundbreaking collaboration between Google and Imperial College London, collaboration being at the heart of our approach to tackling antimicrobial resistance. The Fleming Initiative will continue to support and drive innovative research, as we have seen from Professor Penadés and Dr Dias da Costa."
- Professor Alison Holmes, Director of the Fleming Initiative
"The Fleming Initiative and its Executive Chair, Professor Lord Ara Darzi, were instrumental in initiating this groundbreaking collaboration between Google and Imperial College London. Laboratory science is resource-intensive and, with global challenges like antimicrobial resistance looming, it’s clear we need to do more with less and speed up new discoveries.
With this study having built a strong foundation for future work, I look forward to continue working with Google, Imperial, and the Fleming Initiative to harness artificial intelligence against antimicrobial resistance and help save lives."
- Professor José Penadés, who carried out the experimental work at Imperial’s Department of Infectious Disease, and the validation work with the Fleming Initiative to use Google’s AI co-scientist platform
“In scientific research a huge part of the discovery process often means exploring numerous experimental ‘dead ends’. We spend a considerable amount of time identifying the right scientific questions to ask, designing experiments to answer them, and evaluating the results - sometimes only to uncover inconclusive or uninformative findings.
“What our findings show is that AI has the potential to synthesise all the available evidence and direct us to the most important questions and experimental designs. If the system works as well as we hope it could, this could be game-changing; ruling out ‘dead ends’ and effectively enabling us to progress at an extraordinary pace.”
- Dr Tiago Dias da Costa, who co-led the experimental work from Imperial’s Department of Life Sciences and the Fleming Initiative
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