How one Ontario lab is using machine learning to discover new antibiotics
I’m not a particularly anxious person, and I don’t tend to catastrophize, but I live in fear of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Maybe I’ve read too many novels set before the advent of antibiotics in which people die easily from minor cuts or infections. In the age of modern medicine, you’d think my worries would be unfounded. But there’s lots of cause for concern: bacteria is now mutating cleverly to evade our toughest pharmaceutical weapons—and the consequences could be dire.
Our best hope is to develop new antibiotics, says Jon Stokes, an assistant professor of biochemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He’s a pioneering researcher who is using AI in the best possible way: to outwit bacteria. Stokes runs a laboratory where he and students research new antibiotics and a biochem company to commercialize his discoveries.
Stokes spoke with Maclean’sabout his work and why we have no time to waste. “Weߴre already blowing $1 billion a month, just in Canada, due to antibiotic-resistant infections,” he says. AI, with its rapid data analysis and pattern recognition, might just allow researchers like Stokes to stay one step ahead of the bacteria that’s coming for us.
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief, Maclean’s |
Every day, more than 1.5 million Canadians commute an hour or more each way to work. One solution? High-speed rail. Trains that travel over 200 kilometres per hour could connect people with jobs in Toronto and Vancouver to affordable communities nearby, cutting commutes down and giving Canadians their time back. The concept isn’t new—here’s why it’s time for Canada to embrace it. |
Twenty-four hours after Donald Trump won the American election, Google searches for “move to Canada” had spiked by more than 5,000 per cent. But which Americans will Canada accept—and under what conditions? Ryan Rosenberg, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, has spent the last month fielding such questions. He even launched a website called Trumpugees.ca to manage a post-election influx of immigration inquiries. In this Q&A, Rosenberg lays out the type of American immigrants Canada will accept and the best ways to make a northern escape. |
Back home in Bogotá, Yeison Nova Malagon’s English education in school was limited to just two hours a week—barely enough to cover the basics. English was essential for his career in tourism and hospitality, so he moved to Toronto in 2019 to study ESL. At first, he had to use Google Translate just to get by, and even after six months, casual conversations in English still threw him off. “Everything changed when my friends suggested I use ChatGPT for questions and translations,” Malagon writes in this essay for Maclean’s. ChatGPT isn’t perfect, but it’s become his safety net for complex phrases— and will be his secret weapon as he pursues Canadian residency. |
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