Transplant

A cornea implant made out of collagen gathered from pig skin has restored the vision of volunteers in a landmark study. Pending further testing, the novel implant is hoped to improve the vision of millions waiting for difficult transplant surgeries.

Scientists have demonstrated a new system that can restore crucial molecular and cellular functions in pigs one hour after death. The experiments could help widen the organ transplantation pool and may even lead to new treatments for heart attacks.

Researchers have created some of the most advanced synthetic mouse embryos out of stem cells, removing the need for sperm, eggs and even a womb. The technology could help us understand development and eventually be used to grow organs for transplant.

A 66-year-old man has become the fourth patient, and the oldest to date, to be effectively cured of a HIV infection after undergoing a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that has been linked to HIV resistance.

Researchers have announced success from a pair of experimental pig-to-human heart transplant procedures completed on recently deceased human subjects who were kept on mechanical ventilation for three days while the organs were monitored in their bodies.

A new article has offered insights into the world’s first pig-to-human heart transplant, which took place earlier this year. Researchers report the patient died unexpectedly two months after the procedure and the exact cause of death is still unclear.

Getting an organ from donor to recipient is a race against time, with many going to waste. Now, researchers in Australia have identified new cryoprotectants that could preserve organs and tissues for much longer without damaging them.

In a world-first, a pioneering perfusion machine has facilitated the implant of a damaged liver after three days in storage, with the recipient reported to be in a healthy state one year after the procedure.

Replacing malfunctioning mitochondria with versions taken from healthy cells is shaping as a promising but as yet experimental therapy to treat damaged organs, and a new breakthrough brings the technique closer to clinical use.

Matching blood types from donor to recipient is a major problem in organ donation. Researchers have now developed an enzyme treatment to convert donated organs to the universal O blood type, allowing them to be safely transplanted into any patient.

Researchers have developed a new nanotherapy to enhance the effectiveness of a type 1 diabetes treatment. The innovation packages immunosuppressive drugs into nanoparticles to reduce the likelihood of a body rejecting newly transplanted islet cells.

In a historic procedure surgeons have, for the first time, transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a living human. The patient is still alive, has not rejected the organ and is being monitored at the University of Maryland Medical Center.