Xenotransplantation, transplanting animal’s organs into humans, has been studied in research for a long time and is the wave of the future. Human-to-human organ donation is always in high demand and is very often difficult to procure in a timely fashion to save lives. Being able to implement animal-to-human transplantation on a routine basis would make saving human lives much easier. This article by QZ speaks of research in porcine skin transplants. Skin is the largest organ of the body and is critical in the immune system. Currently skin grafts come from human cadavers and patients that elect to have excess skin removed. Patients that have been badly burned are always in need of skin grafts. Porcine skin is incredibly similar to human skin with the exception of the fact that porcine skin produces a sugar that humans do not. Through genetic modification, this sugar production in the porcine skin has been deleted so it is more conducive to human transplantation.
This is yet another example of how porcine tissue help biomedical research. In addition to porcine tissue, we also offer clients expert consultation and custom tissue harvesting services.
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