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Why this pig’s heart could save your life
Center for Innovative Medicine Models, part of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), so scientists can look into ‘the generation, characterisation and implementation of large animal models in biological and biomedical research’.The lab’s 40-odd staff use animals to look into everything from genetic diseases to reproduction, but a chief concern is xenotransplantation: moving living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another – usually humans. In this developing scientific field, leading the pack is the prospect of genetically modified (GM) pigs looking like 12428 being cut open, their hearts (or possibly kidneys, lungs and livers) removed and carefully but hastily given to a desperately ill human.It is difficult to fathom, watching the piglets play in their pen, but the science is more than encouraging.