Australian researchers have successfully used seaweed to help regenerate bone and damaged human tissue in medical trials which could lead to new treatments for serious diseases such as cancer and schizophrenia.

Unlike other plants, seaweed cells do not have vascular tissue, instead they use a gel-like substance to hold cells together.

It is these unique seaweed gels that are being studied at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute at Wollongong University in New South Wales.

The institute's director, Professor Gordon Wallace, says the team is mixing the seaweed extracts with human stem cells for use with sophisticated 3D printing technology.

"We're looking at extracts from seaweed that can actually form the structural component of 3D printed parts that we're using in studies for nerve, muscle, bone and cartilage regeneration," he said.

"The range and diversities of the chemistries available that can be extracted from seaweed gives us an untapped source of biomaterials that can be basically tailored for applications like 3D printing.

Seaweed cells are held together with a gel-like substance. ( ABC )

"We really are just scratching the surface at the moment."

Professor Wallace and his team believe seaweed gels have untapped potential for treating diseases like arthritis, schizophrenia and cancer.

The team has already been able to regenerate knee-cap cartilage by injecting stem cells in a seaweed gel paste.

Professor Wallace says the seaweed extracts help researchers form stem cells into structures.

"In stem cells that are printed using our 3D printers ... [they] require a structural component to encase those cells and to provide mechanical integrity, and these extracts from seaweed help us to do that," he said.

Value is in Australia's diversity

The global seaweed market in food, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products is worth about $6 billion per year and while Australia has thousands of native varieties, they are poorly understood.

Marine biologist Pia Winberg has begun a trial of cultivating seaweed at Bomaderry in New South Wales. ( ABC )

Marine biologist Dr Pia Winberg, a former director of the Wollongong University's Shoalhaven Marine and Freshwater Institute, is now developing one of Australia's first commercial seaweed farms.

"Just as we have unique gum trees, kangaroos and things on our continent, we have equally unique seaweed," she said.

Her company, Venus Shell Systems, has begun cultivating seaweed in a trial facility alongside the Manildra ethanol plant at Bomaderry in New South Wales.

The company is using ethanol by-products such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen to fertilise seaweed.

"Next year, we'll be looking at a 10-hectare system and then we need to be getting into the hundreds of hectares to address some of the real markets that can make a change, like agriculture and animal health because those industries are producing food outputs at a scale of 250,000 tonnes from one factory," she said.

"So we need to be creating the ingredients that go into that to promote animal health and agricultural products."

Local production excites importers

Hobart-based biotechnology company Marinova says the development of quality-controlled, farmed, Australian seaweed is exciting.

The company now imports most of its seaweed from Argentina, Canada and France to produce extracts for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.

Marinova's managing director, Paul Garrott, hopes the Bomaderry farm may end his company's reliance on imports and provide a marketing edge in the highly competitive global biotechnology market.

"It will enable us to say that we are manufacturing these pharmaceutical-grade products solely from Australian materials and that really is very important to us from a strategic perspective and from an economic perspective too," Mr Garrott said.

Dr Winberg says Australia could be a major player in the world seaweed market producing medicine, food, agricultural products and new farming systems.

"We can introduce some unique Australian seaweeds and unique molecules from seaweeds to the world that we really haven't seen before," Dr Winberg said.

"I think Australia is placed very well with its high regulatory standards to set up those kinds of systems and whether we look at exporting our biomass to the world or whether we look at exporting our knowledge in this area to the world, there's a huge opportunity there for Australia."