Articles Published

The following is a listing of recent articles published by the staff of Poseidon Sciences. To read, please click the photo of each article. Many thanks for your interest.​

Time to Reconsider the Color Red for Underwater Hulls. Jonathan R. Matias, Chief Science Officer of Poseidon Sciences Group, presented a paper at the 12th Annual World Congress of Ocean-2024 (WCO-2024) held at Aloft Novena Singapore. The paper explores the historical basis for the red color used on underwater hulls and how modern understanding of barnacle behavior challenges this tradition.

Reduction of human-vector contact is of epidemiological importance in malaria control. Repellents can be used to complement the existing intervention tools against malaria vectors. Thus, evaluation of efficacy of additional mosquito repellents and /or attractants is of great significance for personal protection tools against malaria vectors.

Article in the biomedical journal Parasites and Vectors show that Poseidon’s
MR08 repellent is equivalent to DEET in protecting against mosquito
vectors of malaria. 

Understanding vector behavioral response due to ecological factors is important in the control of disease vectors. This study was conducted to determine the knockdown resistance (kdr)alleles, dieldrin resistance alleles, and entomological inoculation rates (EIRs) of malaria vectors in lower Moshi irrigation schemes for the mitigation of disease transmission. The findings of this study suggest that the homozygous and the heterozygous resistance present in rdl genes demonstrated the effect of pesticide residues on resistance selection pressure in mosquitoes. A better insecticide usage protocol needs to be developed for farmers to use in order to avoid excessive use of pesticides.

Teredo or ship worms continues to be a problem in wooden marine structures. This new magazine publication is derived from the popular scienceblog article on the same topic.

The Search for Novel, Renewable Natural Cosmetic Ingredients from the Sea: A Nun-Scientist’s Tale of Passion and Perseverance.

For the general public, the word ‘biocide’ is almost like a dirty word. Yet biocides remain an essential part of modern life, protecting the very same public that decry it from the host of bacteria and viruses in food, household items, such as cosmetics and toiletries, to swimming pools, paints and medical supplies.

Although preliminary in nature, these studies demonstrate the potential of catalytically active selenium as a biocidal alternative to conventional toxic biocides currently in the market today. With this validation of the biological actions of covalently bound selenium, a program is now in process to develop coatings technologies that would deposit selenium to iron surfaces and proppants. Covalently bound selenium coatings may represent the next generation of non-leaching, environmentally friendly biocidal technology for the hydraulic fracturing industry in the near future.

This new article discusses Poseidon Sciences’ Marine Toxicity Sentinel Screening (MTSS) to validate the safety of coatings in the marine environment. The MTSS method enables the evaluation of coatings against a panel of sensitive marine larval species in a faster, more quantitative way.

Athena subsea test facility offers a rare opportunity to validate the performance of coatings for applications such as pipelines and oil drilling platforms, which operate in much deeper waters. Asia Pacific Coatings Journal Paper in print April/May 2010.

A new publication on Poseidon’s biological control method for malarial vectors was recently published in the journal Parasite & Vectors. This new method employs hibernating embryos of the annual fish to be transported without water and introduced in temporary pools. Upon hatching, the fish would decimate all the mosquito larvae in the seasonal pools.

Simulation of marine coating performance under natural tropical seawater conditions. Proceedings of the European Coatings Conference. Berlin, Germany, February 9-10, 2010.

Barnacles, Darwin and marine paint research. The article celebrates Charles Darwin’s 150th anniversary of writing the “Origins of Species” and Poseidon’s odyssey in marine paint sciences. This article was an expanded version of Poseidon’s 2009 Newsletter.

This article is also published in Chinese
and can be accessed HERE.

Rediscovery of seagrape Caulerpa lentillifera in the Gulf of Mannar and its mariculture. Once thought extinct in the Gulf, the seagrape, also referred to as umi budo, is high value seaweed for food use in Japan now found in the east coast of South India. Mariculture technologies were developed for this seaweed for later commercialization as an export commodity.

New shampoo additive to eliminate head lice from scalp hair. A novel use of the cooling agent, menthol propyleneglycol carbonate. Household and Personal Care Today, Suppl. Hair Care, April 2007, pp3-5. The article described clinical tests on the efficacy of MR-08 in deterring head lice from attaching to hair.

Simulation of shear stress in marine paints. Asia Pacific Coatings Journal. The article discusses Poseidon’s biofouling research and the new dynamic test system under field trials in India.

Proceedings of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists Annual Meeting Las Vegas, Nevada. A presentation describing the potential use of MR-08 as a topical anti-inflammatory compound.

Shedding light on the marine paints industry. Asia Pacific Coatings Journal. The article looks into the development of natural products for antifouling paint applications.

Proceedings SSPC 2003, Industrial Protective Coatings Conference & Exhibit, New Orleans, Louisiana. The paper outlines Poseidon’s marine paint testing facilities and the conditions ideal for effective and fast evaluation of marine coating performance.

11th Congress on Marine Corrosion and Fouling, San Diego, California. The The poster presentation has been converted into an easy to read article about menthol and menthol analogues as barnacle repellent and a new method of coating plates with nontoxic resin to trap bioactives in a simulated coating environment.

Life on the Ocean Wave published in Polymer Paints & Coatings Journal looks into the research on Poseidon’s marine natural products program and the exciting