"Time... And Tide" Department: A Transgenic Pig Kidney Has Functioned For Three Days, Normally -- In A Brain-Dead Human Host.

Many, many moons ago, as a youngster -- I worked closely with a pan-national team of dedicated, highly ethical bio-scientists -- a team that ultimately failed in animal models, at Duke University.

As did every one before it, and every one. . . after it. [The involved company ultimately donated one of its research facilities in Boulder, Colorado to Mayo.] But apparently, this morning. . . one attempt has at least partially succeeded in an ethical end of life trial:

. ..For the first time, a pig kidney has been transplanted into a human without triggering immediate rejection by the recipient's immune system, a potentially major advance that could eventually help alleviate a dire shortage of human organs for transplant.

The procedure done at NYU Langone Health in New York City involved the use of a pig whose genes had been altered so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger almost immediate rejection.

The recipient was a brain-dead patient with signs of kidney dysfunction whose family consented to the experiment before she was due to be taken off life support, researchers told Reuters. . . .

Now you know. Onward, smiling just ever so slightly. . . life. . . finds a way.

नमस्ते