ANTARES project launch: Artificial Intelligence aims to speed up the search for new antibacterials
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY, July 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- ANTARES is a new public-private partnership funded by
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FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY, July 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — ANTARES is a new public-private partnership funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) that brings together the Fraunhofer ITMP in Hamburg, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and Enamine Deutschland GmbH from Frankfurt am Main (Enamine). The partners will use AI models to rapidly identify novel antibiotics towards safer, more affordable cures for patients battling life-threatening and often drug-resistant infections.
The AI models will be trained and tested using publicly available datasets, providing a low-risk approach to optimize the most suitable model. After the initial adjustment, the model is improved iteratively using high throughput testing of substances predicted to be antibiotically active to achieve the best possible prediction accuracy. In order to enhance the discrimination power of the model, structurally similar compounds that were predicted to be inactive will also be confirmed experimentally in addition to the hits. โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆโ explains Dr. Bernhard Ellinger from Fraunhofer ITMP. Importantly, while starting with known datasets the consortium has the ability to make and test newly synthesized libraries.
๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ง๐๐ฑ๐ญ-๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ฌ
The three partners of ANTARES, Fraunhofer ITMP, HZI and Enamine, are all experts in translating their respective scientific expertise into inventions and products.
Dr. Sven Wagner, Vice President of Partnerships at Enamine, adds: โ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ-๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ “๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ตโ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ (๐๐๐) ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต (๐๐๐) ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ “๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ” ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค-๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ.”
To enable this vision, structure-activity relationships learned from the models will be extracted using ExplainableAI (XAI) approaches. In addition, a generative model will propose new structures with antibiotic activity. The models and the developed standardized data sets will be published FAIR to support further antibiotic drug discovery. โ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด,โ explains Prof. Mark Brรถnstrup from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.
๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ (๐๐๐๐๐) ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐รผ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ (๐๐ต๐), ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 03๐๐๐0186๐.
Fact box
โ
Projekttitel: Antibiotic Network for Targeted AI-driven Research and Explainable Screening
Acronym: ANTARES
Projektbeginn: 01.07.2026
Projektlaufzeit: 3 Jahre
Fรถrdersumme: 1,18 Milionen โฌ
Zuwendungsgeber: Bundesministerium fรผr Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt
Projekttrรคger: PtJ Projekttrรคger Jรผlich
๐ผ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐
Enamine is the leading provider of chemical compounds and a scientifically driven Contract Research Organisation for integrated drug discovery (IDD) with unique partnering opportunities in exploring new chemical spaces. The company combines access to the in-house produced screening compounds (5 million in stock) and building blocks (350,000 in stock) with a comprehensive platform of integrated discovery services in bioinformatics, biology, and chemistry to advance and accelerate the efforts in drug discovery.
For more information, please visit: https://enamine.net/
๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐:
Oleksii Gavrylenko
Director of Marketing
Email: o.gavrylenko@enamine.net
๐ผ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ค๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐
Fraunhofer ITMP with its Hamburg site has a strong expertise in high-throughput drug discovery using high-quality compound and repurposing libraries (in silico and in vitro screening). We are also developing workflows to ensure the analysis of drug discovery data and the highest standards of FAIR data management, as well as algorithms and AI tools for the statistical analysis of patient cohorts in different medical indications, thus covering the broad field of ยปmedical data scienceยซ.
For more information, please visit: https://www.itmp.fraunhofer.de/
๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ค๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐:
Dr. Alena Wรถtzel
Head of Public Relations
Email: alena.woetzel@itmp.fraunhofer.de
๐ผ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐๐
Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and its other sites in Germany are engaged in the study of bacterial and viral infections and the bodyโs defense mechanisms. They have a profound expertise in natural compound research and its exploitation as a valuable source for novel anti-infectives. As member of the Helmholtz Association and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) the HZI performs translational research laying the ground for the development of new treatments and vaccines against infectious diseases.
For more information, please visit: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/
Oleksii Gavrylenko
Enamine Ltd
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