It marked the longest a genetically modified pig kidney has ever functioned inside a human, albeit a deceased one.
“Two months is a lot to have a pig kidney in this good a condition.
Political Cartoons View All 1160 ImagesSo-called xenotransplantation attempts have failed for decades — the human immune system immediately destroyed foreign animal tissue.
Montgomery gambled that maintaining Miller's body on a ventilator for two months to see how the pig kidney worked could answer some of those questions.
She recently got a card from a stranger in California who's awaiting a kidney transplant, thanking her for helping to move forward desperately needed research.
Persons:
gurney, Maurice “ Mo ” Miller, “, Dr, Robert Montgomery, Montgomery, ”, Mary Miller, Duffy, Miller, ” Miller, Sue Duffy, Montgomery’s, immunologist Massimo Mangiola, Jeffrey Stern, Karen Maschke, Mangiola
Organizations:
NYU Langone, Food and Drug Administration, Associated Press, University of Maryland, FDA, NYU, Hastings Center, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP
Locations:
Newburgh , New York, California