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Jul 26, 2019

A CRISPR startup is testing pig organs in monkeys to see if they’re safe for us

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

“I was wrong,” Church now admits.

A startup he cofounded, eGenesis, had made news for its ambitious plans to use CRISPR gene-editing technology to modify pigs so their organs could be safely transplanted into humans without being rejected. That could solve a critical shortage of human organs available for transplant.

But no human test has yet been carried out. Instead, the company is currently testing organs from its pigs in monkeys at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The experiments are being led by the hospital’s chief of transplant surgery, James Markmann.

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