Development of a Natural Cyanobacterial Sunscreen

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Synthetic sunscreens constitute the vast majority of sunscreens that are commercially available in Canada and elsewhere. Preliminary work has shown that sunscreens that are based on natural compounds produced by cyanobacteria have the potential to be much more effective than synthetic sunscreens due to the absence of toxic side reactions. Verdant Applications Inc. will develop a natural and efficacious sunscreen to replace the chemically-based products currently on the market. The company has identified a mixture of natural sunscreen compounds (myxoxanthophyll, scytonemin, mycosporine amino acids) produced by cyanobacteria which, in combination, exhibit effective protection against UVA/B exposure. Furthermore, a reproducible process has been established to induce the cyanobacteria to produce these sunscreen compounds on a laboratory scale. As a result, Verdant is looking to partner with Western University to develop a cost-effective scale-up process for commercial manufacture of an all-natural, cyanobacterial-based sunscreen. Use of this sunscreen would reduce the potential for UVA/B-dependent damage due to toxic side reactions of most synthetic sunscreens on the market today. Furthermore, this all-natural sunscreen would expose users to fewer man-made chemicals that are present in the synthetic sunscreens that are currently on the market.