A team at NYU Langone Health successfully transplanted two genetically engineered pig hearts into recently deceased humans in June and July, part of an effort to create a xenotransplantation protocol for people with heart disease.
The two xenotransplants were performed June 16 and July 6 with two recently deceased donors maintained on ventilator support at NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital. The team of surgeons then monitored heart function for 3 days for each donor.
The hearts were procured from pigs that had 10 genetic modifications, including four porcine gene “knockouts” to