Pigs With Human Organs
In possibly the most ambitious attempt to combine human and animal genetics, various research teams have begun breeding pigs with organs that are suited for transplant to humans. Xenotransplantation—transplanting organs across species—has been difficult because pigs have a specific enzyme that is rejected by human bodies.
Randall Prather, a researcher at the University of Missouri has cloned four pigs so far that no longer have the gene that produces the enzyme. A Scottish company—the same company responsible for cloning Dolly the sheep – managed to clone five pigs that lack the same gene. In the near future, it is possible that genetically modified pigs like these will be grown like organ factories or actual human organs will be grown inside pigs.
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