CASA GRANDE, Ariz.—PanAridus L.L.C., the agricultural research company that specializes in the rubber-producing desert shrub guayule, has hired Vicente Acosta, Joel Lusk and Lawrence Bonk as research technicians.
Acosta, who has spent two decades working with a variety of seeds, will serve as assistant to PanAridus Research Director Lauren Johnson, PanAridus said.
Lusk, formerly with the Arizona Department of Health Services, and Bonk, who worked more than two decades in supervisory roles at Abbott Laboratories, will work with Senior Research Technician Melinda Main on rubber extraction.
Acosta, Lusk and Bonk were hired to help PanAridus meet higher-than-expected demand for tire-grade guayule rubber samples, PanAridus said. The company has a proprietary cultivar of guayule from the Sonoran Desert, it said.