One month after an experimental procedure to transplant the heart of a genetically modified pig into a patient with end-stage heart disease, doctors say the heart is functioning on its own and shows no signs of rejection.
This could be another one of those revolutionary things, like AI, that’s been slowly creeping up on us but that is going to be a surprising change-everything moment once the threshold has passed. If a pig has been modified sufficiently that its heart can work indefinitely in a human, then probably so will its kidneys or lungs. Maybe even the liver, though that one does enough endocrine processing that I’d expect further work to be needed there.
I’ve been looking forward to the work on 3D printed organs coming to fruition on these lines, but being able to take the organs from a pig will be so much cheaper and easier.
I think that a lab grown organ will be better in the long run. You know that the organ will work with humans and you don’t have to sacrifice an animal to get the organ.
This could be another one of those revolutionary things, like AI, that’s been slowly creeping up on us but that is going to be a surprising change-everything moment once the threshold has passed. If a pig has been modified sufficiently that its heart can work indefinitely in a human, then probably so will its kidneys or lungs. Maybe even the liver, though that one does enough endocrine processing that I’d expect further work to be needed there.
I’ve been looking forward to the work on 3D printed organs coming to fruition on these lines, but being able to take the organs from a pig will be so much cheaper and easier.
I think that a lab grown organ will be better in the long run. You know that the organ will work with humans and you don’t have to sacrifice an animal to get the organ.
Liver transplant in human to human is still pretty good, but kidneys and lungs are a must.