Guayule Blog

LiveScience.com created a Top 10 list of most disruptive technologies placing rubber 7th on the list. Other items that made the cut: magnetic strip card, gun powder, iron smelting, X-rays, microprocessor, electricity, nuclear fission, flight and, of course, the Internet.

This past Tuesday, the 24th, government, trade associations and medical industry vice presidents wrapped up discussions at the Future Medical Forum in Tampa, Florida. The forum explored today’s technologies and innovations and their impact on the future of the industry. Dr. Katrina Cornish, leading scientific expert and internationally recognized as a principal authority on guayule and guayule latex production, was invited to chair a round table discussion about new, innovative technologies for medical devices and the impact that new materials, like rubber from guayule, have on the discovery, development and design of devices.

More than 22,000 people from around the globe, representing companies that make drugs, diagnostics, medical devices, research tools and products to drive development of alternative fuels, gathered at the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization in San Diego June 17-20.

Invited Yulex CEO participated in a seminar titled ‘Taking Clean Tech to the Next Level’ where he discussed the high-value plant based biomaterial derived from guayule and the strategies implemented to reduce water and energy use while addressing U.S. dependence on imported rubber.

A book telling the dramatic story about the search for a domestic (U.S.) rubber crop between the Mexican Revolution of 1911 and World War II is currently in production. Author Mark Finlay will examine the efforts to develop a domestic source of natural rubber, particularly guayule, and show it as an essential economic resource and as a link in the chain of raw materials vital for national defense. 

TechDevice Corp. has introduced minimally invasive medical balloons made out of guayule. Medical Product Manufacturing News calls this a BREAKTHROUGH because now balloon catheters with desirable characteristics such as tensile strength and durability are available without the hevea latex health risk. See the article here.