Pigs Can Help Solve Our Organ Donation Problem

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Analysis by Lisa Jarvis | Bloomberg

There’s long been a gap between the relatively small number of organs available for transplant and the long waiting lists of potential recipients. This week, the world got a little closer to a future in which pigs — yes, pigs — could narrow that gap.

A new study, published in Nature, showed that a monkey lived for two years after receiving a gene-edited pig kidney. Read the full article in The Washington Post.

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Another step toward using animal organs: Pig kidney sustains brain-dead man for a month

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By Karen Weintraub

Doctors in New York have managed to keep a brain-dead man in a state of sort of suspended animation for more than a month after removing his kidneys and replacing them with one from a pig.

A ventilator has kept 57-year-old Maurice Miller’s heart beating and other organs functioning while the pig kidney produces urine and other normal byproducts. Read the full story in USA Today.

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