Tel Aviv University researchers have found a green seaweed extract could prevent cellular infection with the coronavirus.
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"This is a cheap, natural material to produce that could assist in a solution to a serious problem: the spread of the coronavirus among large populations, in particular in developing countries, that do not have access to a vaccine – a situation that is taking many victims and even leading to the expedited production of new variants," the researchers, from the university's Department of Environmental Studies, said.
They noted the "research is in its early stages, but we hope the discovery will serve the development of an accessible and effective treatment against infection from the coronavirus in the future."
A number of firms in the field have already expressed interest in the researchers' findings, which were published in the PeerJ scientific journal.
Professor Alexander Golberg, who led the research, said, "It's already clear today that the vaccine against the coronavirus, although it is highly effective, cannot stop the pandemic's spread around the world. Even in advanced countries where a majority of citizens are vaccinated, they understand that as long as there is no answer for the billions who do not have access to the vaccine, the virus is expected to develop more and more variants that could be immune to vaccines, and the war on the coronavirus will continue."
He said that "for this reason, it is very important for all of humanity to find a cheap and accessible solution that also works for weak populations in developing countries. In our lab, we decided to this end to examine material we produced in previous studies – ulvan, which is produced from marine algae ulva that is also called 'sea lettuce' and is used as food in places like Hawaii and Scotland.
"In the past, it was reported that ulvan was effective against viruses in agriculture as well as against some human viruses, and with the arrival of the coronavirus, we sought to examine its activity against the virus. At this stage, our findings are evoking cautious optimism," he said.
To examine their hypothesis, researchers grew the algae in the lab and used it to produce ulvan, which they sent to the Southern Research Institute in Alabama, which specializes in contagious diseases. There, researchers built a cellular model to examine the material's activity.
Animal cells used in the model were exposed to the coronavirus before being exposed to ulvan. Researchers found that the ulvan prevented the virus from penetrating the animal cells, or in other words, prevented infection with the coronavirus.
While the researchers called their findings "very encouraging," they admitted they had a lot of work ahead of them. "The material was produced in raw production so it is actually a blend of many natural materials, and we need to discover which of them is the material the prevents cellular infection. Later on, we need to examine how it operates in humans, if at all."
"We believe in the ability of this breakthrough technology to help in the global struggle against the coronavirus," Keren Primor Cohen, the head of Ramot – Tel Aviv University Tech Transfer Company, the university's business engagement center, said. According to Cohen, she has already filed a number of patent requests for the technology.
Shai Shefer, Arthur Robin, and Alexander Chemodanov from Golberg's Tel Aviv University lab, Professor Michael Gozin of the Department of Material and Nano Science at the Tel Aviv University School of Chemistry, as well as researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba were also involved in the research study.
Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 0.71% according to Health Ministry data. Of the 74,011 people who tested for the virus Wednesday, 494 were found to have COVID-19.
There are 5,303 active cases of the virus. There are 135 people in serious condition, the lowest number recorded in the last month. 91 of whom are on ventilators.
Although 1,325,421 Israelis have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8,154 have died.
On the vaccination front, 6,261,892 Israelis have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 5,759,464 have received two doses. Over 4 million Israelis – 4,033,641 – have received all three available doses of the vaccine.
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