World's most CRISPR'd pig raises hopes of transplantable organs

In a new experiment, scientists at the biotech company eGenesis have created pigs whose organs might one day be used for human transplantation. Biologist Luhan Yang and her colleagues had previously cloned pigs whose genomes had been CRISPR’d to remove 25 potentially dangerous-to-humans viruses. But to create this latest iteration — called Pig3.0 and described in a paper posted to the preprint site bioRxiv — the scientists also edited out three pig genes that could cause patients’ immune systems to reject a pig organ, and added nine human genes to make pig organs more compatible with human physiology and prevent fatal blood clots. If these experiments pan out, eGenesis may be well on its way to helping address the organ shortage by providing a steady supply of pig-derived ones for human transplantation.