First pig stem cells could make 'humanised' organs

The world's first pig stem cells have been created from porcine ear and bone-marrow cells.

Researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in Shanghai, China, say they are the first to achieve this in hoofed animals.

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have the potential to turn into all types of body tissue. The big advantage, though, is that they can be genetically manipulated in the lab, and then cloned to create animals with new traits.

By adding or deleting certain genes, for example, researchers could produce pigs whose organs can be transplanted into patients without them being recognised and rejected. Efforts to do such xenotransplants have already been under way for at least a decade, but iPS cells are easier to genetically engineer and grow in the lab than pig embryos, opening up new possibilities for xenotransplantation.

more: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17238-first-pig-stem-cells-could-make-humanised-organs.html

the fundies will moan, until one of them needs a transplant, and then out comes the hypocrisy.

same as usual.

some clerical scholar will be paid (well) to say the right thing. That only works in Sunni Islam, though--there's room for disagreement on that side of the faith. The Shi'a are more lockstep. If they Ayatullah says "No dice" why, it's "No dice."

He's a mountain of pig parts.

What to do when we are bacon?

:scared:

Imagine that if you have heart failure, or failure of some other organ, and you need a transplant, that there is no waiting list.

They just take a blood sample, run some DNA tests, then order a genetically engineered pig with the correct genes, and in a matter of days, you've got an organ!

No need to wait for some kid on a motorcycle to wipe out, no long waiting lists, instead, you've got made-to-order organs.

And we can tell the fundies to STFU, since they're animal organs - we can bypass all the bullshit about human blastocysts altogether!

resistant to things like swine flu also.

good stuff in the article.