Organ donation

A major challenge when it comes to preserving tissues and organs for transplantation is preventing the buildup of ice crystals that can cause critical damage, but an emerging technology may help sidestep the whole issue.

Organ transplants save lives, but rejection is a serious issue. That risk can be reduced by stripping donor cells out of the donor organ and replacing them with the recipient’s own, and now scientists have made that process safer with a protein bath.

Imagine needing a liver transplant and, instead of waiting for a donor, a new one could just be grown from your own skin cells. In a big step towards this, mini human livers grown from stem cells have been successfully transplanted into rats.

In organ transplants, rejection by the recipient's immune system is a risk. Now researchers at Yale have discovered a molecule that plays a role in triggering a slow-acting type of rejection, which could be blocked to give patients a better outlook.

In what is being touted as a major breakthrough, scientists have developed a machine that can not only keep livers alive outside the body for a week, but can also rejuvenate damaged livers unfit for transplantation.

A new supercooling technique could greatly improve transplantation outcomes by taking the organs into the realm of subzero temperatures for the first time.

A new study, led by scientists from King’s College London, has discovered a new type of cell in the liver. The research describes the cell as having “stem cell-like properties,” with the potential to regenerate damaged liver cells and treat disease in the organ without the need for a transplant.

A disturbing portrait of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China has been revealed in the final judgement of an independent panel established to investigate the issue. The report details evidence of an organized infrastructure harvesting organs from persecuted groups.

Transplanting any organ is a complicated process, but lungs are particularly vulnerable to damage. Now, researchers have developed a way to repair that damage, keeping the lungs of pigs alive outside the body for up to 36 hours and allowing them to bring the organ up to a transplantable quality.

3D printing organs is going through some teething issues. Now researchers have found a surprisingly simple answer to the complex problem of printing detailed vascular networks, and shown it off with a dramatic model of a breathing lung that passes oxygen into surrounding blood vessels.

A confronting new study has revealed over 400 published research papers may be in violation of international ethical standards regarding the use of donor organs sourced from executed prisoners. The study calls for a mass retraction of hundreds of research papers from mainland China.

A new study has reported the first successful long-term survival of baboons transplanted with genetically modified pig hearts. The research is a leap forward in the quest to achieve cross-species organ transplantation, and gives hope to the many humans on waiting lists for donor organs.