Antibiotic resistance is an emerging crisis. Scientists have taken a groundbreaking step: they are using artificial intelligence to design phages —viruses that infect specific bacteria—as weapons against resistant strains.

Phages have been used for decades, but their use was rudimentary and limited. The breakthrough now is that AI allows them to be precisely engineered to target specific bacteria, reducing the risk of collateral damage to beneficial bacteria in the human body.

In laboratory tests, some engineered phages have already eliminated resistant strains of bacteria in culture plates with remarkable effectiveness, proposing themselves as an alternative to traditional antibiotics.

The major challenge will be bringing them into the clinical setting: evaluating safety, immune responses, appropriate dosages, and regulations. But if successful, it could be one of the most important tools of the 21st century in infectious medicine.

For all of us, it means renewed hope in the face of diseases that were once almost incurable. And for women, given their role in many immune systems and their family history of exposure, this kind of progress is especially valuable.