The wonderful world of science never disappoints. Scientists at the Bio Pilot Plant in Germany have developed a new molecular compound so effective at killing disease-causing fungi that they named it after Keanu Reeves. ‘Keanumycins’ or the Keanu Reeves molecule.
From Neo The Matrix until John Wick. Keanu Reeves has shown us time and time again how badass he is. Now the scientific world is also ready to recognize him for it. Who even cares about an Oscar. The people of Hollywood might as well wrap up this year and end awards season because nothing is going to top this exceptional honor.
The Keanu Reeves molecule
‘Keanumycins’ is a type of lipopeptide and thus invented by the Bio Pilot Plant in Germany. This new molecular compound effortlessly kills dangerous fungi. If only they had the Keanu Reeves molecule in the apocalyptic world of The Last of Us. Not that Joel isn’t a badass, but you always have a boss over boss and that’s Keanu Reeves.
The study on this new disease killer is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Lead author of the study, Sebastian Götze, explained the thought process behind the name ‘Keanumycins’. “The lipopeptides kill so efficiently that we named them after Keanu Reeves because he is also extremely lethal in his roles.”
The Keanu-inspired compound can fight not only against fungi that cause disease in plants, such as Botrytis cinera. No, it can also help against fungi that can be dangerous to humans, such as Candida albicans. At low concentrations, the Keanu Reeves molecule will not be toxic to the human cell. Although this still needs to be tested more extensively.
This makes the new invention the perfect candidate for the development of new antifungals (drugs that stop fungal infections). It is therefore a product that the pharmaceutical world urgently needs. Essentially would The Last Of Us would have been a very different story had Keanu Reeves — er, Keanumycins — been involved.
Anti-infectives crisis
“We have a crisis in anti-infectives,” Götze noted in a press release. “Many human-pathogenic fungi are now resistant to antimycotics, in part because they are used in large quantities in agricultural areas.”
He continues: ‘We tested the isolated substance against various fungi that infect humans. We discovered that it strongly inhibits the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans, among other things.’
Last year, the World Health Organization reported that fungi are the greatest threat to public health. Candida albicans was identified as one of the 19 most ‘critical priority’ fungal pathogens. In an October 2022 statement, Dr Justin Beardsley, who led the WHO Fungal Priority Pathogens Lists research group, warned: ‘Fungi are the forgotten infectious diseases. They cause devastating disease, but have been neglected for so long that we hardly understand the magnitude of the problem.’
Fungal infections lead to about 1.7 million deaths each year, and as the planet warms, that number is increasing, according to a study published by the NCBI. And if HBO has taught us anything in recent weeks, it’s that we should probably get to grips with that sooner rather than later. Fortunately, we now have Keanu Reeves on the case.