logo

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.

Read through the Privacy Policy to understand better

 Go Back

Making pig livers humanlike in quest to ease organ shortage

By LAURAN NEERGAARD - Jan 17, 2023, 01:11 PM ET
Last Updated - Aug 06, 2024, 01:22 AM EDT
Pork_liver
This is a pig liver that's gradually being transformed to look and act like a human one, part of scientists' long quest to ease the nation's transplant shortage by bioengineering replacement organs

Scientists are transforming pig livers to look and act like human ones, part of a quest to ease the nation's organ shortage

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — The ghostly form floating in a large jar had been the robust reddish-brown of a healthy organ just hours before. Now it’s semitranslucent, white tubes like branches on a tree showing through. 

This is a pig liver that's gradually being transformed to look and act like a human one, part of scientists' long quest to ease the nation's transplant shortage by bioengineering replacement organs.  

Sponsored

The first step for workers in this suburban Minneapolis lab is to shampoo away the pig cells that made the organ do its work, its color gradually fading as the cells dissolve and are flushed out. What’s left is a rubbery scaffolding, a honeycomb structure of the liver, its blood vessels now empty. 

Next human liver cells -- taken from donated organs unable to be transplanted -- will be oozed back inside that shell. Those living cells move into the scaffolding’s nooks and crannies to restart the organ’s functions. 

By continuing to use this site, you agree to our terms and conditions
Sponsored
Sponsored
Sponsored
Our Offices
  • 10kInfo, Inc.
    13555 SE 36th St
    Bellevue, WA 98006
    Phone: +1 (425) 414-0184
  • 10kInfo Data Solutions, Pvt Ltd.
    Claywork Create
    11 km, Arakere Bannerghatta Rd, Omkar Nagar, Arekere,
    Bengaluru, Karnataka 560076
    Phone: +91 80 4902 2100
4.2 20250324