PNNL researchers marry algae for biofuels with fighting viruses

In Washington state, when the coronavirus pandemic thrust the world into turmoil last year, a group of bioenergy researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) saw an unconventional way to fight the pandemic: algae. 

What followed was a deep dive into the literature linking algae and antivirals as far back as 1956. To make sense of the data, researchers sorted the studies along the timeline a virus follows when it causes an infection. As they did, it became apparent that compounds in algae demonstrate exceptional—and as yet fully untapped—potential to combat viral diseases.

The s literature review found a host of algae-derived compounds that can serve as guardians at the gates of potential viral infection routes. Certain compounds have been shown to provide a sort of protective coating to keep the virus from entering the body. 

But if, by chance, a virus does enter a host, algae-derived compounds have been shown in the laboratory to inactivate or degrade viruses. 

Several preliminary laboratory studies have also shown algal products prevent viruses from adhering to cell receptors to make it harder for a virus to enter or infect a host cell.

A therapeutic compound that could be extracted before the algae is processed for biofuel would be a step in that direction.