Department of pharmacology and toxicology Associate Prof Lyn Wise has been trying to figure out how to use the marine algae to help people recover from burn wounds.
She discovered Agrisea New Zealand Seaweed, found near the Coromandel, had the right properties to adapt to skin better than other materials.
She said the intrinsic structure of the seaweed looked a lot like the layers of the skin and the idea was to see if it could support skin cells.
The initial application for the product was to help treat burn patients.
It could be used as dressing for a patient while they are recovering and it could help grow cells to apply on the burn permanently.
Of all the materials that had been trialled in the lab, the seaweed worked the best to grow sheets of skin cells on.
It was really versatile, so could adapt to the cells sprayed on it easily, she said.
The seaweed, which was brought from a family-owned business in Paeroa, was the right combination of molecules to be used.
The molecules that were extracted from the seaweed included alginate, a common material used in skincare and wound healing, and cellulose, which usually came from plants and was used for dressing.
The seaweed had lots of "moisture-loving" material and antioxidants that could help with ageing and and inflammation.
There was a lot of skin care products that used those products, but their suppliers were not buying New Zealand materials.
