2024-04-25 15:24:00
Brazil became a pioneer in pig farming aiming to produce organs for human transplantation. USP (University of São Paulo) announced that they began developing the country’s first “Pig Facility” this week.
The space is exclusive for raising pigs that will have their genetically modified organs e compatible with transplants in people. In some countries, there have been people who have received this type of transplant, one of which was operated on by a Brazilian doctor.
The new vivarium was built in Cidade Universitária and is a fundamental piece in the development of research related to the Xeno BR Project. The first initiative focused on xenotransplant research in Latin America.
This type of transplant can save lives by reducing the queues of people waiting for transplants, but there are still difficulties. Unfortunately, our body can reject these new organs and this is currently the biggest obstacle in research. However, genetic modification of organs may be the solution to the problem and has been studied.
This project, despite being new, has already yielded some results: a man from the United States who managed to have a transplanted pig kidney. The patient suffered from very advanced kidney disease, but managed to recover and was discharged from the hospital. The doctor responsible for the surgery was the Brazilian “Leonardo Riella”.
Before that, a genetically modified pig kidney was transplanted into a brain dead patient. His body also adapted to the new organ.
Mayana Zatz, coordinator of the Center for Human Genome and Stem Cell Studies at USP, spoke a little regarding the process of creating genetically modified embryos:
We have already managed to create embryos in which the main genes responsible for acute rejection have been silenced and, now, the next step is to implant them in female pigs that will be raised in an absolutely sterile environment, which is the objective of this pig facility.
Furthermore, a new Xeno BR laboratory will be opened at the USP Technological Research Institute later this year. There is no date yet, but we hope it will be as soon as possible.
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