CNN —New advancements in transplanting pig kidneys to humans, detailed by two separate research teams on Wednesday, mark key steps forward in the evolving field of xenotransplantation, the use of non-human tissues or organs to treat medical conditions in humans. Both research teams used genetically modified pig kidneys that were transplanted into recipients experiencing brain death in what is considered pre-clinical human research. Other studies have demonstrated that this can occur when pig kidneys are transplanted in non-human primates. The team has been monitoring pig kidney transplants in a brain-dead decedent – a man named Maurice Miller, known as Mo, who died of a brain tumor – for nearly two months. “Over the last 20 years, we’ve gained a lot of information about how pig kidneys work to replace the functions in primates.

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Persons: ”, Jayme Locke, Locke, ” Locke, NYU Langone, Maurice Miller, Mo, Robert Montgomery, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, “ We’re, Adam Griesemer, we’ve, ’ –, we’re Organizations: CNN, University of Alabama, Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, New York University, Health, Comprehensive Transplant Institute, ”, UAB, NYU, NYU Langone Transplant Institute, CNN Health, Liver Transplant, FDA, US Department of Health, Human, Transplantation Network