SAN ANTONIO — April 22, 2025 — A team of San Antonio-based biomedical researchers trained a machine learning algorithm to identify more than two dozen viable treatments for diseases caused by zoonotic pathogens that can jump from animal hosts to infect humans. Scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) used SwRI-developed Rhodium™ software to study bat-borne Nipah and Hendra henipaviruses, which are endemic to some parts of the world and cause particularly lethal infections in humans.
Through the collaboration, researchers mapped the protein structure of the measles virus, which is in the same family of viruses as henipaviruses. With measles as a blueprint, Rhodium virtually screened and ranked compounds for corresponding structures and binding effectiveness. Out of 40 million compounds, Rhodium identified 30 potentially viable viral inhibitors for Nipah and Hendra. Although the research focused on antiviral treatments for henipaviruses, any broad-spectrum therapeutic that's developed could potentially treat related viruses, including measles.
