Kean Professor Leading Research Toward Zika Virus Treatment

Kean University Assistant Professor Supratik Kar, Ph.D., is undertaking a research initiative using artificial intelligence to identify a treatment for the Zika virus.  

Kar’s work aims to dramatically reduce the time and cost of identifying a safe, targeted small-molecule therapy for the virus, which currently has no U.S. FDA-approved treatment.  

Zika remains a global public health concern, particularly in regions where outbreaks have caused devastating complications for pregnant women and infants. His approach applies machine learning and molecular modeling to evaluate millions of structures virtually, pinpointing how and where drug candidates might bind to specific regions of Zika proteins while minimizing potential toxicity. 

“The goal is to design safer drug candidates by using all the information our AI models provide. These help us predict potential safety problems early on, such as risks of cancer and other common reasons drugs fail during testing,” Kar said. 

The project began taking shape during a 2023 Kean delegation trip to Brazil, where Kar met with partners at SENAI CIMATEC.  

Brazil experienced a major Zika outbreak in 2015, and researchers there continue to study the virus’ impact on local communities. Kar saw an opportunity for collaboration and proposed an accelerated, AI-driven strategy to identify an effective small-molecule treatment. 

“I thought this would be the perfect place to pitch my Zika virus idea, because they are the best people to understand the impact based on the devastation they have seen,” he said. 

After returning from Brazil, he initiated the first phase of the project with Kean undergraduate students, supported by two consecutive Students Partnering with Faculty awards. Kar’s work also demonstrates the University’s commitment to providing students with meaningful research opportunities in high-impact areas. 

“Research like Dr. Kar’s gives our students the chance to be part of real-world scientific work,” said George Chang, Ph.D., dean of the Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology. “Their involvement in projects of this caliber strengthens both their training and the broader impact of our research efforts.” 

Among the Kean students involved is Sara Calvo Londono, who contracted Zika as a child in her home country of Colombia. After learning about Kar’s research, she approached him and has been contributing to the project this semester. 

“This research is really important to me,” Calvo Londono said. “Some developing countries don’t have the resources that we do here in the U.S., so to be working with the team in Brazil and to see Dr. Kar put this much effort into finding a remedy for this has been a great experience for me.” 

Kar said viruses such as Zika evolve rapidly through genetic mutation, enabling them to re-emerge in forms that spread more efficiently or evade existing immunity. Traditional drug development can take 10 to 12 years and cost billions of dollars, but his AI-guided approach compresses the early discovery phase to as little as six months to one year, creating a more efficient path toward potential treatments that could help mitigate future outbreaks.  

“Viruses replicate inside hosts such as humans, animals, or mosquitoes, and each replication cycle introduces new genetic mutations,” Kar said. “As these mutations accumulate, certain viral strains can become more infectious or more capable of bypassing immune defenses, increasing the risk of severe disease during subsequent outbreaks.”