Taking Barrier reef coral sunscreen to the world

[Larissa Bright, Company Director, appears on screen seated next to a table of products in front of a banner that reads: Larissa Bright Australia. The Pure and Natural Skincare Company, Australian Made, Certified Cruelty Free, Vegan Skincare, 100% Mineral Makeup, Body and Spa, Baby Care, Men’s Care, Aromatherapy]

Larissa Bright: Six years ago my research led me to the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the research scientists shared with me a natural phenomenon relating to the Australian corals on the Great Barrier Reef.

[Image changes to the camera panning over different types of coral underwater]

Over millions of years through a process of adaptation and evolution the Australian corals have developed their own natural sunscreen.

[Image has changed back to Larissa]

I analysed over 20-years of research data from the Institute and then I took it to the CSIRO.

[Image has changed to Larissa in a laboratory working with Dr York]

I had discussions with the CSIRO as to how we could bring this natural sunscreen into development for human use and how we could provide a sustainable supply of this sunscreen without harming or affecting our natural environment.

[Image has changed back to Larissa]

We’re excited, because what we’ve been able to do over two years of intensive scientific research and development with the CSIRO is to duplicate the actions of the Australian corals.

[Image changes back to Dr York in a laboratory and zooms in on a small monitor that the Scientists is typing numbers into]

For the first time we’ve been able to create a molecule that gives you both UVA and UVB coverage.

[Images has changed to Larissa and Dr York in front of a monitor with graphs on it in discussion]

[Image changes to Dr Mark York, CSIRO]

Dr York: So, what we’ve done, building on AIMS research, is to take this molecule, which was derived from the corals and engineer some structural changes which allow us to keep the sun screening mechanism of the corals but with increased ability and increased coverage of the UV spectrum.

[Image changes to a child and woman seated by water. The woman is applying sunscreen to the child]

Larissa Bright: For the consumer what this mean is in a sunscreen lotion you will no longer have to mix three or four different chemical filters to create a broad spectrum coverage for yourself.

[Image changes to a man playing stick with a dog in the water]

My hope is to bring this natural innovation from Australia, from our remarkable World Heritage Great Barrier Reef, a true coral sunscreen that’s been developed over millions of years in nature to the rest of the world.

[Image changes to an aerial shot of the Reef and then to underwater shots of fish and coral]

[Image has changed back to Larissa]

We can see this as being a new paradigm in the sun screening industry and hopefully our sunscreens will be sold globally within the next five years.[CSIRO logo appears © 2013 CSIRO]