Growing pigs for heart transplant, among the first plans for Germans

Eckhard Wolf, a scientist at Ludwig-Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, said his team's goal is for new species modified by the Auckland race to be ready for experimental transplants by 2025.

In the first operation of its kind, a team from Maryland University Medical School last month transplanted a pig's heart with ten modifications to a sick man. Doctors say that he is responding well despite the risk of infection, organ rejection, or high blood pressure.

Our <x0Plan is to continue with a simpler model, namely five genetic modifications”, said Wolff, whose work has sparked a heated debate in a country with one of the lowest organ donation rates in Europe and a strong animal rights movement, writes Croatian news agency Index.

 Many Years of Research

Wolf has investigated transplants from animal to human known as xenotransplant for 20 years. He said his team would use cloning technology to create only “animals of” origin, from which genetically identical future generations will be educated.

The first such generation should be born this year and their hearts will be tested on the baboon before the team seeks approval for a human clinical test in two or three years, Wolff said.

Transplants will be used for people who are diagnosed with organ failure and have no other access to treatment, and there were about 8,500 people on the waiting list in Germany at the end of 2021, according to the organ transplant foundation there.