The team succeeded by developing a system that can find molecular structures with desired traits (say, killing bacteria) more effectively than past systems. Unlike previous methods, the neural networks learn representations of molecules automatically, mapping them into continuous vectors that help predict their behavior. Once ready, the researchers trained their AI on 2,500 molecules that included both 1,700 established drugs and 800 natural products. When tasked with looking at a library of 6,000 compounds, the AI found that halicin would be highly effective.

Don’t expect a prescription for halicin any time soon. MIT successfully used the medicine to eradicate A. baumanii (a common infection for US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq) in mice, but hasn’t used it in human trials. This could be just the start of a much larger trend, mind you. The scientists have already used their model to screen over 100 million molecules in another database, finding 23 candidates. They also hope to design antibiotics from scratch and modify existing drugs to increase their effectiveness or reduce their unintended side effects. This is far from guaranteed to finish off “superbugs.” If it takes out even some of them, though, it could save many lives.

The team found three bacteriophages that could be useful (including one from a rotting eggplant) and modified them to maximize their ability to target and wipe out the bacteria strain. Once this was ready, they gave the teen twice-daily infusions as well as surface treatments on the skin lesions resulting from the infection.

The treatment didn’t amount to a cure, but it did have dramatic (and likely life-saving) results. The infection has nearly vanished, according to NPR, and the teen is now healthy enough to resume a mostly normal life — really, the main goal. There also weren’t side effects.

It could be a long while before you see this kind of treatment happening on a regular basis. There’s still more work to be done determining the efficacy of bacteriophages (gene-modified or otherwise) and whether or not they’re truly safe to use. However, this hints that gene tweaking could one day tackle a variety of stubborn infections, providing a second chance for people who’d otherwise be resigned to a grim fate.