Company aims to help accelerate progress toward a vaccine or treatment for this global health threat

Kerafast Inc., developers of an online platform that facilitates accessibility to unique bioresearch materials from laboratories across the globe, today announced the availability of a Zika virus antibody from Vanderbilt University.

While researchers scramble to increase the pace of research toward treatment and prevention measures for the Zika virus, the virus’s geographical distribution continues to widen during this epidemic. Thought to be the cause of microcephaly in newborn babies, the disease is spread by the mosquito genus Aedes as well as by sexual contact.  

By sharing data and materials research institutions can help to address the current Zika outbreak and minimize its effects on the global population. “Progress in the field of infectious disease is predicated on the availability of critical reagents, many of which can be difficult to source.  We wanted to supply this Zika antibody to the global research community as quickly as possible,” said Alan Bentley, who heads up Vanderbilt University’s Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization.

Kerafast is constantly adding new research materials to its online collection that are available for purchase through a user-friendly and straightforward research-use-only “click license.” The Zika polyclonal antibody recognizes the human Zika envelope (E) protein and can be utilized for a range of applications to study the virus and its function.

“At Kerafast, our mission promotes access to rare and unique research reagents by facilitating a community of both Providing and Procuring laboratories that work toward the cure of disease,” said Dr. Robert Bondaryk, CEO. “We hope by making this Zika virus antibody available in our catalog we are helping to progress research toward a vaccine, treatment and cure for this worldwide health crisis.”

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About Kerafast, Inc.

Since its founding in 2011, Kerafast has partnered with more than 130 prominent academic research institutions internationally that provide thousands of rare and unique ‘Reagents for the Greater Good’ for the benefit of the scientific community working toward the cure of disease in 52 countries on 6 continents.