Seek Labs Maps High-Burden Mosquito-Borne Infectious Diseases with BioSeeker™, Accelerating Therapeutic Discovery for Chikungunya, West Nile Virus, and Zika

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seek Labs, a biotech company boldly seeking a healthier world through AI-powered discovery, programmable therapeutics, and point-of-care diagnostics, today announced the successful mapping of three of the world’s most persistent mosquito-borne infectious diseases—Chikungunya, West Nile Virus, and Zika—using its proprietary BioSeeker™ discovery engine. These newly mapped targets represent a critical expansion of the company’s Global Disease Atlas and a major step forward in enabling the development of programmable therapeutics with Seek Labs’ PTAP™ platform to combat vector-borne disease threats worldwide.

BioSeeker Powers Precision Genomics for Programmable Therapeutics

BioSeeker™ is Seek Labs’ molecular strategist. By scanning thousands of viral and pathogenic genomes, it identifies conserved, high-potential sequences essential to disease survival and replication. These “genomic weak points” serve as blueprints for Seek Labs’ Programmable Target Ablation Platform (PTAP™), which utilizes CRISPR systems to irreversibly disable pathogens with genomic precision. By unlocking targets for Chikungunya, West Nile Virus, and Zika, BioSeeker has compressed years of discovery into weeks, paving the way for programmable, pathogen-specific therapeutics that could be deployed when and where they’re needed most.

“Mosquito-borne diseases are among the most complex and under-addressed in global health, spanning diverse pathogens, vectors, and regions with limited therapeutic tools,” said Jared Bauer, CEO of Seek Labs. “BioSeeker gives us a global vantage point and a tactical advantage: we know where to strike, and we have the tools to do it.”

Global Burden and Urgency

Mosquito-borne viral diseases infect over 400 million people each year and remain some of the most overlooked threats in global and regional public health:

• Chikungunya, spread by Aedes mosquitoes, causes chronic joint pain and has resurged in explosive outbreaks across Asia and the Americas.
• Zika, also Aedes-borne, is linked to birth defects and neurological disorders, particularly devastating in pregnant individuals.
• West Nile Virus is spread primarily by Culex mosquitoes and, while many cases are asymptomatic, severe neuroinvasive disease can result in encephalitis, paralysis, and death, especially among older adults and immunocompromised individuals.

Despite their scale, these diseases have no approved therapeutics in routine use. As vector ranges expand due to shifting climate conditions and urbanization, the window to respond grows narrower and the need for scalable, regionally adaptable solutions is greater. Additionally, recent reports of West Nile Virus in Utah have brought this growing threat even closer to Seek Labs’ doorstep, underscoring the importance of local preparedness alongside global response.

A Global Call to Partner in Programmable Therapeutics for Chikungunya, West Nile Virus, and Zika

With pathogen mapping complete and PTAP guide designs ready for validation, Seek Labs is actively seeking development partners to advance these targets into the next generation of programmable infectious disease therapeutics. The company invites mission-aligned collaborators—including biopharma developers, government agencies, and global health organizations—to accelerate this next phase and help redefine what’s possible in mosquito-borne disease control.

About Seek Labs

At Seek Labs, we don’t wait for change—we build it. We’re pursuing the breakthroughs the world can’t wait for by developing programmable “seek-and-destroy” therapeutics and point-of-care molecular diagnostics that close the gap between outbreak and intervention. At the core of this mission is a layered architecture: BioSeeker™ serves as the Intelligence Layer, continuously mapping conserved viral vulnerabilities in real time; these insights activate our Deployment Layers (PTAP™ for programmable therapeutics and SeekIt™ for molecular diagnostics), forming a full-stack development engine designed to accelerate response, innovation, and impact across global health.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Seek Labs is a proud member of BioHive, Utah’s collaborative life sciences ecosystem. Together with our partners, we’re building faster, smarter solutions for the world’s most urgent health challenges.

Forward-Looking Statements and Regulatory Disclaimer

This press release includes forward-looking statements about Seek Labs’ technologies, development plans, and partnership opportunities. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. The technologies described are investigational and have not been reviewed or approved by the FDA or any other regulatory authority for clinical or commercial use.