News
Briefing
Human receives pig kidney
Inamedical milestone, a genetically modified pig kidney has been
successfully transplanted into a living human, reports Grace Wade
SURGEONS have transplanted
apigidney intoa 62:yearold
rmanliving with end-stage
kidney disease. As NewsScientist
went to press the reipient,
Richard Slayman, was
recovering welland was
expected tobe discharged
from the hospital within days
Isthisthe fst ever pig kidney
transplant?
‘This isthe first times pig kidney
hasbeen transplanted intoa
living human, which makes ita
significant milestone in thefield
of xenotransplantaton,orthe
tuansferofanimalorgansto
Fhumans."Thesuccess of this
transplant isthe culmination of
efforts by thousands ofsclentists
and physicians over seve
decades” sald Tatsuo Kawalat
Massachusetts General Hospital
{mastatement,“Ourhopeis that
this transplant approach will
offeralifelineto milionsof
patients worldwide whoare
suffering from kidney failure”
Stritiy speaking, however,
this is’ the first ever pigsto-
laumankidney transplant. The
procedure has been performed
fivetimes inthe past, alin
‘The most recent ofthesetook
place in july 2023 by Robert
“Montgomery at NYU Langone
Health andhis colleagues. That
kidney functioned for more
thanamonth without signs
of rejection or infection
‘when ithe surgery takeplace?
Kawalandhiscolleagues
performedthe surgery on
16March-Theprocedurelasted
hours, andthe kidney began
Tre pi tcheybeng
remavedomitsboxto
prepare for ransplantation
solNewscintst yo March2004
producingurine and the waste
product creatinine soon ater,
according to reporting by The
New York Times. layman has
alsobeen abletostop dialysis,
‘further indication that the
kidney functioning well
Where the kidney come trom?
The organ was provided by
the pharmaceutical company
Genesis, which breeds pigs
genetically engineeredtocamry
certain human genes andto lack
aparticularset ofpiggenes that
areharmfulto humans. These
geneticmodifications reduce
thelikelihood oftransplant
rection when the immune
systemattacks theorganand
causes tto fall Slaymanisalso
receivingacocktallofimmune
suppressing drugs ofurther
lower this risk Sofar,there iso
sign ofrejection and slaymanis
abletowalkonbisown,
Wnatdo we know about
therecipient?
layman has ype2 diabetes,
high blood pressure nd kidney
disease. He had previously
received human kidney
froma donorin December 2018.
However, the organshowed
signs offallureabout five years
later. He started dialysis in
May last year, but ex
‘complications,
tothehospitalevery two weeks.
More than 100,000 people
intheUSarewaitingforan
‘organ transplant, 170f whom
dieeach day. The USFood
and Drug Administration
authorised the experimental
‘transplant forSlayman duetoa
lack o other treatment options.
saw itnot only asa way to help
me, but away to provide hope
forthe thousands of people who
needa transplant to survive!
saldSlayman inastatement
Have there been similar
procedures withother organs?
‘Only twooother people have
‘undergone a xenotransplant,
Dothof whom received a
‘genetically modified pig heart,
Thetitsta man named David
Bennet died two months later,
potentially due to complications
fromapig virus ealled porcine
‘cytomegalovirus So, scientists
‘genetically inactivated this and
similarvirusesin the pigthat
Slayman’s kidney eame fom.
Thesecond recipient, aman
named Lawrence Faucete, died
from transplant rejection six
‘weeksafterhissurgery.
;
!
Technology
Robotdesigns
better paper planes
thanahuman
Alex Wilkins
‘AROBOT can design, build and
test objects made from folded
ape, suchas planes, better
‘than ahuranif given the same
‘umber of attempt,
Robotic laboratoriescan test
‘and design materials fr faster
‘than humans, but they often rely
foncomputer simulations tocut
‘down onreal-word testing for
‘therobot. However, tis doesn't
‘work when testing objects that
‘are cifficutt and computationally
‘expensive to simulate, suchas fluids
‘ordeformable materials ke paper.
Now, Ruoshi Liuat Columbia
University in New York and his
colleagues have developed a
robotic testing platform, called
PPaperBot that can design objects
‘made rom paper without needing
‘computer simulations.
‘We wanted to design tootsin
‘thephnysical word iecty instead
‘fin the simulation, because in
this way we can model many more
realistic behaviours that are hard
tosimulaty'saysLiu.
‘Tomake aplane, the rbot is
fist given a roughoutine fora
folded paper design, but is alowed
‘ovary the length and width of the
wings. The robot then folds the
plane, chooses launch angle and
‘throws. After measuring how far
{ties therobot adjusts the design
using a machine leering algorithm
‘and tres again.
"PaperBot works very similarly
tohow humans d things” says Liu
“We try random, itferent designs
‘and then ourmemories remember
‘hat the good ones and the bad
‘ones ook tke, and we try to find
pattern there
‘Aer 100 tials, which took
about 3 hours, PaperBot's best
plane design tew further than
thebest plane designed bya
person giventhe samenumberof
attemptsat optimising the wing
design before letting the robot arm
‘throw t(arkv dokorotmnsk)