2023 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report

On searching antimicrobial agents among natural products:Fighting against Superbug

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20K12043
Research Institution	Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Principal Investigator	AMIN MD.ALTAFUL 奈良先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 准教授 (30379531)
Project Period (FY)	2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	Antibiotic compounds / Natural products / Machine learning / Jamu formulas / TCM formulas
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	Antimicrobial agents are drugs that can kill microorganisms or stop their growth. massive imprudent usage of antibiotics in clinical practice for both human and livestock has resulted in resistance of bacteria to antimicrobial agents. Our research focused on finding natural antibiotic compounds based on traditional medicine formulas. We applied various machine learning algorithms such as Lasso regression, Random Forest and XGBoost, deep learning to Jamu and TCM formulas aiming to finding natural antibiotic plants and compounds. Based on our research, we published two papers in journals with reasonable impact factors. One of the papers published in the journal Antibiotics (Impact Factor 4.94) identified antibiotic plants based on Jamu formulas. Another paper published in the journal Methods (Impact Factor 4.647) found out antibacterial natural compounds based on TCM formulas. Also, we published several papers in IEEE concerences.