A research group in Italy has developed two new coral protection technologies for healing and restoring coral reefs: a biopaste and a natural patch, both successfully tested on real corals. The two solutions resulted from the collaboration among researchers at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) in Genoa, and the Acquario di Genova (Aquarium of Genoa).
Threatened by climate change and increasingly vulnerable, coral reefs are crucial ecosystems for marine biodiversity and the survival of many coastal communities. In addition to being a fundamental resource for fishing and tourism, reefs play a key role in global ecological balance. To counteract their progressive degradation, scientific research is focusing on innovative solutions that combine eco-compatibility, effectiveness, and rapid intervention.
The first solution realized by the research group is a green, fully biodegradable biopaste capable of anchoring corals while simultaneously accelerating their growth through electrochemical mineralization technology. Described in a study published in the journal Advanced Materials, the new material, named "Active Biopaste", is a paste made from modified soybean oil and graphene. The two substances, once mixed, harden in a controllable way and become a solid, conductive substrate to anchor coral fragments and support Mineral Accretion Technology (MAT), a technique that stimulates their growth. The paste exhibits stable properties for over 40 days in seawater, and MAT tests show significant enhancement of coral growth rates within two weeks, doubling those of the control group.
This same collaboration also led to a second major contribution to reef conservation, published in the journal One Earth: an eco-compatible system for the targeted delivery of antibiotics to diseased corals—a sort of patch combining a hydrophilic film loaded with antibiotics (made from chitosan, a polymer derived from shellfish) with a natural hydrophobic sealant based on beeswax and plant oils from sunflower and flax. All materials are natural and, once degraded, do not harm the marine ecosystem.