Jul. 22, 2025
SALT LAKE CITY—
Biotech Firm Integrates Veterinary Pathogens to Safeguard Global Protein Supply
Seek Labs’ AI-powered platform now maps animal diseases, aiming to protect food systems and prevent billions in economic losses.
- Seek Labs has added veterinary pathogens to its Global Disease Atlas to protect protein supply chains.
- The move addresses threats from diseases like African Swine Fever, Capripox, and Classical Swine Fever.
- These diseases cause significant economic losses through culling, trade bans, and supply disruptions.
- Seek Labs uses its BioSeeker™ engine and Programmable Target Ablation Platform (PTAP) to develop therapeutics.
- The company is seeking partners to advance veterinary therapeutics and strengthen global health infrastructure.
A biotechnology company is taking aim at global health’s critical challenge of protecting protein supply chains, now vulnerable to a range of animal diseases. On July 22, 2025, Seek Labs announced the inclusion of veterinary pathogens within its Global Disease Atlas. This initiative tackles the direct threat these biological diseases pose to food systems, potentially leading to shortages, price hikes, and destabilized supply chains, which can cost billions annually.
Mapping Disease Threats for Targeted Therapies
Seek Labs’ BioSeeker™ discovery engine is now mapping diseases such as African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), Capripox (which includes Lumpy Skin Disease, Sheep Pox, and Goat Pox), and Classical Swine Fever (CSFV). This mapping accelerates the development of specialized therapeutics designed to combat these threats at their genetic core.
The BioSeeker™ platform works by scanning countless public genomic sequences. It identifies targets crucial for viral replication that are compatible with Seek Labs’ Programmable Target Ablation Platform (PTAP). This blueprint helps guide the creation of CRISPR-based “seek-and-destroy” therapeutics, capable of targeting both RNA and DNA viruses at their genetic source.
Advancing Veterinary Therapeutics
African Swine Fever Virus
African Swine Fever Virus continues to be a major global crisis, impacting pork production and causing over $100 billion in economic losses worldwide. Seek Labs has developed an ASFV therapeutic candidate that showed promising results in in vivo trials. These trials demonstrated a survival rate increase from 0% to nearly 60% in animals exposed to lethal doses of the virus.
“Our in vivo ASFV trials demonstrated the first successful study in a veterinary model using a programmable therapeutic against a high-consequence foreign animal disease,” said Douglas Gladue, Seek Labs’ VP of Veterinary Pharmaceutical Development. “This shows our adaptable platform could be engineered as a countermeasure for other viral threats.”
Capripox Viruses
Capripox viruses, including Lumpy Skin Disease, Sheep Pox, and Goat Pox, have caused widespread livestock outbreaks globally. In the past decade, cumulative losses from these diseases are estimated at over $1 billion due to animal culling, trade restrictions, and reduced production. As these pathogens belong to the same viral family and share conserved genomic regions, BioSeeker has identified targets for a potential pan-Capripox therapeutic.
Classical Swine Fever
Classical Swine Fever (CSFV) is another significant transboundary threat. This highly contagious disease has led to an estimated $5 billion in global economic losses in recent decades through trade limitations, mass culling, and costly eradication efforts.
These veterinary targets highlight Seek Labs’ ability to quickly design and develop programmable solutions for high-impact diseases using PTAP. This cross-species capability aims to bolster animal health, enhance global bio-surveillance, and strengthen control infrastructure.
Collaborating for Global Health
By integrating veterinary pathogens, Seek Labs reinforces its commitment to global health, recognizing the critical link between human and animal well-being. The company offers partners a streamlined path to advanced veterinary therapeutics by providing a repository of mapped genomic targets and its BioSeeker platform combined with PTAP. Seek Labs invites potential partners to collaborate on solutions that improve health outcomes, secure food supplies, and meet growing market demands.
About Seek Labs
Seek Labs is dedicated to developing programmable “seek-and-destroy” therapeutics and point-of-care diagnostics to accelerate responses to health crises. Their layered architecture includes BioSeeker™ as the “Intelligence Layer,” mapping viral vulnerabilities, and PTAP™ and SeekIt™ as “Deployment Layers” for therapeutics and diagnostics, respectively. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Seek Labs is part of Utah’s life sciences community, BioHive.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements regarding Seek Labs’ technologies and plans. Actual results may differ due to various risks and uncertainties. The described technologies are investigational and have not been reviewed or approved by regulatory authorities.
