Scientist researching skin-healing powers of seaweed suffers catastrophic scalping When marine scientist Pia Winberg began researching how seaweed could help heal serious wounds, little did she know she'd one day have the type of life-threatening injury that could benefit from her work. The former University academic began farming and processing Australian green seaweed five years ago and some of the extracts she produces are being used to print skin tissue with innovative 3D technology.