Zika virus

September 4, 2019

Partnership to help bring Zika virus therapy to clinic

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are partnering with the Dutch biopharmaceutical firm Batavia Biosciences and Nashville-based IDBiologics to bring to the clinic a highly potent Zika virus neutralizing antibody they isolated three years ago.

By Bill Snyder
Lab manager Rachel Nargi prepares a B-cell culture during the recent “sprint” to develop an antibody-based treatment for Zika virus infection.
April 11, 2019

VUMC-led team ‘sprints’ to develop Zika virus treatment

In January scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and colleagues in Boston, Seattle and St. Louis were given an audacious goal to develop — in 90 days — a protective antibody-based treatment that potentially will stop the spread of the Zika virus.

By Bill Snyder
Research assistant Mahsa Majedi loads reagent used in DNA sample preparation in the genomics lab. She is part of a team of more than a dozen people at VUMC who are “sprinting” to develop — within 90 days — an antibody-based treatment to stop the spread of the Zika virus.
January 24, 2019

VUMC scientists ‘sprint’ to find anti-Zika antibodies

Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and colleagues in Boston, Seattle and St. Louis are racing to develop — in a mere 90 days — a protective antibody-based treatment that can stop the spread of the Zika virus.

By Bill Snyder
January 11, 2018

VUMC joins national effort to block global pandemics of potentially lethal viruses

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has signed a five-year cooperative agreement worth up to $28 million with Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to develop methods for preventing the global spread of viruses like chikungunya and Zika.

By Bill Snyder
November 7, 2016

Early study finds antibody that ‘neutralizes’ Zika virus

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have isolated a human monoclonal antibody that in a mouse model “markedly reduced” infection by the Zika virus.

By Bill Snyder
May 24, 2016

Vanderbilt expert addresses Zika-related concerns for women who are, or want to become, pregnant

With summer time approaching and the topic of mosquitoes abuzz, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist Sarah Osmundson, M.D., has a few recommendations for women who are pregnant or want to become pregnant.

By Jessica Pasley
February 4, 2016

CDC issues travel advisory related to Zika virus regions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a travel advisory for visitors to parts of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Samoa and Cape Verde where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.
By VUMC News and Communications