Team GENAB is Bisrat Bekele and Peter Sseguya from the University of Piemonte Orientale in Italy.
Some 70% of rubber used in the global market is synthetic and not produced in an eco-friendly way. The remaining 30% comes from natural sources, which are finite. Using a fermentation process on the black yeast, Team GENAB has produced an innovative, bio-based rubber product that is sustainable, economically-viable and environmentally prudent. This opens up the possibility of black yeast becoming a new sustainable source of natural rubber. Black yeast – with its low nutrient requirements and thermotolerance – would be the ideal host for the production of ectopic rubber particles.
