• Question: What chemical is in seaweed?

    Asked by anon-251036 to Katrina on 2 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Katrina Wesencraft

      Katrina Wesencraft answered on 2 Apr 2020:


      It’s called alginate. It’s a ‘bioinvisible’ polymer. We buy alginate as a powder, so it has already been extracted from seaweed when we get it. We mix it with a solution to create a tiny jelly bubble (200 micrometres diameter – about the width of a human hair) and trap the cells inside. Alginate is selectively permeable, so nutrients can get in to feed the cells, while compounds that the cells produce can get out (I work with cells that produce insulin). The pores in the material allow these substances to flow in and out, but they’re too small for large immune cells and antibodies to get in. This should stop the cells inside from being attacked by the immune system.

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