SUNDAY 5 AUGUST, 2018 – UWI TODAY
9
uct quality
very significantly
.
ificantly
compared to the controls.
ical use
to one third or even more.”
ar Ali
he Sea
E LAND
t growth and reduce disease
H E N R Y
How big is seaweed?
It’s big enough for a
segment on “60 Minutes”, the renowned US
news programme. “A promising source of
food, jobs and help cleaning ocean waters,” is
how journalist Lesley Stahl describes it in the
July 15 news segment.
The growing demand for seaweed is easy
to understand. It’s a natural product in the
age of increased health consciousness and
environmental sustainability. And it has many,
many uses. Seaweed has traditionally been a
source of food as well as a food additive and
that still remains its primary use, with an
estimated 80 percent targeted towards food
consumption in 2015. Seaweed is categorised
by colour: red, green and brown.
Asia is both the main producer and
market for seaweed food products. China
and Indonesia are the major producers.
Japan, South Korea and China are the
major consumers. Europe has been steadily
increasing its seaweed consumption, with the
UK as the top market. But seaweed is enjoyed
around the world as an ingredient in food
items as varied as Welch bread to Caribbean
punch.
Beyond food, seaweed has myriad uses,
and evenmore are being investigated. Seaweed
is a source of hydrocolloids, gelatinous
substances that are very useful for a variety
of purposes. The hydrocolloids are alginate,
agar and carrageenan.They are used as natural
food additives and preservatives, in natural
medicine and science, filtration (of unwanted
nutrients in water such as ammonia), crop
biostimulants, ingredients in paint, toothpaste,
cosmetics, and feed for livestock and fish.
Conservative estimates put the current
value of the industry at between US$10 billion
and US$16 billion. With such a variety of uses
and growing demand it is easy to see why.
Seaweed
A thousand products,
A hundred markets
amkissoon, Dr. Adesh Ramsubhag.
“He knew the potential of those temperate types
but no one had done a lot of hard scientific work on
the tropical species,” Dr. Ramsubhag says.
The initial research was carried out by graduate
student Antonio Ramkissoon, who is also doing
landmark work on microbial-based products with
high potential for pharmaceutical use (see https://
sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/archive/april_2018/article11.
asp). When they saw the results, it was decided they
needed a researcher dedicated to seaweed. It was a role
Omar accepted.
“It is impactful research,” says the 24-year-old
from Indian Walk in Moruga. “We are working to get
a premium product out of it, not just writing papers,
graduating and leaving.”
Omar says he wants to both see the creation of a
new company manufacturing their seaweed products
and encourage organic farming practices. “Some parts
of the work are of intellectual property value, and my
mentors are already working on it,” he says.
A big part of their research includes field trials
with local farmers, and they have been happy with
both the products’ organic nature and the bigger and
better yields they produce.
But muchmore needs to be done –more field trials
and more data collection, specifically more detailed
basic studies, including genomic and transcriptomic
sequencing to determine what processes are taking
place and what genes are being affected when the
seaweed extracts interact with the plants. Also the
environmental effects of these extracts need to be
studied.
“We have to use the science to drive the product
development process, “says Dr. Ramsubhag. “We can’t
just collect seaweed, make a little concoction, that
might sometimes work and most times not.”
And research, particularly the sequencing, is very
expensive. The research team has done outstanding
work funded by earlier (now discontinued) external
grants, private sources and even directly out of the
pockets of Ramsubhag and Jayaraman. The Life
Sciences students have also shown great commitment
to the work, volunteering their time and effort for little
to no recompense. Moving forward, with these strong
results, they are hoping for more support.
“We don’t need millions of dollars. We can start
small,” says Professor Jayaraman. “But wemust not wait
too long. We cannot wait for things to happen. We have
to make them happen.” “Extracts are only a part of the
story. There are many exciting molecules which are of
high commercial value. We are also working on those
with the help of our colleague, Dr. Nigel Jalsa from the
Chemistry Department,” says Professor Jayaraman.
Dr. Ramsubhag agrees. “In the business world,
time is of the essence.” But he remains optimistic that
they can find support for their work. “The end we have
in sight is the creation of a UWI spin-off company. But
there are several models we can look at. We can even
licence the product and work with the private sector.”
“Adesh is more of an optimist than me. He is
a mahatma,” says Jayaraman, smiling. Having a
long career as a researcher in both India and North
America, he has the firsthand knowledge of how
aggressively societies invest and pursue high potential
research.
“I am more cautiously optimistic,” he says.
Meanwhile the seaweed piles up, mountains of it,
on the Caribbean coasts.
