One of Ohio’s most dramatic bioproducts has just received critical acclaim in Washington, DC. The SCIENCE INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER LIFE: Celebrating the new National Institute of Food and Agriculture – A University Science and Education Exhibition and Reception on Capitol Hill took place in Rayburn House Office Building on March 4, 2009.

 The best exhibit at the event, recognized by receiving the People's Choice Award, was "A Domestic Source of Natural Rubber for the United States," which detailed the work being done in Ohio to extract natural rubber from the Russian dandelion (taraxacum koksaghyz – or TKS).

TKS research, supported in part by the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC) headquartered at The Ohio State University, is a 5-year ongoing university-industry collaboration working toward commercializing TKS as a source of natural rubber. TKS can be grown and harvested in the moderate climates of North America and similar global latitudes. With an acknowledged world shortage of natural rubber estimated at 15 percent of production demand, such a breakthrough with TKS has huge market potential.

The collaborative team includes OSU's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), OBIC, The University of Akron, Oregon State University, University of Nevada-Reno, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the ARS Western Regional Research Center. Industry partners include Cooper Tire, Bridgestone/Firestone, and Veyance Technologies. 

The TKS R&D program seeks to develop commercially available TKS varieties and prototype crop production processes (crop development); design and build a pilot-scale bioprocessing facility; and, qualify TKS-derived natural rubber using industry standards and laboratories.

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The Ohio BioProduct Innovation Center is a Wright Center funded by Ohio Department of Development. OBIC focuses on enhancing Ohio's leadership position in bioproduct commercialization. A novel market pull model integrates academia in support of comprehensive supply chain collaborations across agriculture, specialty chemical and polymer industry sectors.