Carrageenan and silver to combat drug resistant bacteria

Carrageenan is a sugar within some red seaweeds that gets a lot of attention in relation to human health and food additives. We covered this topic thoroughly here.

Lately carrageenan has been making headlines as a sustained release matrix for health applications. Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-Roorkee), found that they could stabilize and extend the short shelf life of silver nanoparticles by adding a carrageenan matrix. The nano composite was able to kill both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and had a shelf life of 6 months. The researchers believe this technology will be useful for wound dressing, food packing, and plan to investigate the possibilities as an anti-fungal and anti-viral agent as well.

The published research can be found here

Read more about the project from the Tech Explorist here