That'll do, pig

Yesterday, two separate teams of US scientists announced breakthroughs in their respective attempts to create genetically modified pig kidneys that function normally when transplanted into human patients.

🧑‍🔬 Here’s what happened: In a peer-reviewed research letter, surgeons from the University of Alabama at Birmingham say a pair of modified pig kidneys transplanted into a brain-dead human patient performed the organ’s two most essential functions – filtering blood and creating urine – for a full week, which the authors describe as a first-of-its-kind occurrence.

Around the same time the UAB letter was published, surgeons at NYU announced one of their modified pig kidneys has been working in a brain-dead human patient for 32 days and counting, the longest period for such an experiment on record (though the results have yet to be peer-reviewed).

• In both breakthroughs, the scientists involved say more work is needed to conclusively establish whether pig kidneys can be safely used for human transplants.
• Their research comes more than a year after the first person to receive a genetically modified pig’s heart lived for two months following the groundbreaking transplant.

🇺🇸 Zoom out: Roughly 106,000 Americans are currently on the organ transplant list, and nearly 90% of them need a kidney. An estimated 13 people in the US die each day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant.