After 30 days of nourishment, the bioengineered lung — transformed from a white gauze-like material into a pale lobe of bloodless flesh — was ready for transplantation. It was carefully inserted into the patient, an 80-pound Yorkshire pig, and then the scientists waited. Together, the pig and the lung would survive for two months.
That a lab-made lung could be placed inside a pig is perhaps unremarkable given what’s now possible in the fast-moving field of “designer pigs.” But that the lung survived as long as it did, and was grown using a new and possibly improved method, was significant, scientists say.
“You could argue that this is the first example of an engineered solid organ that’s been implanted into a large animal and shown any evidence of any function,” said Laura Niklason, a professor of anesthesia and biomedical engineering at Yale University who was not involved with the study. “It is definitely a step forward.”
The company significantly involved in this study, Biostage, used to call itself as Harvard Apparatus. Those who know of Paolo Macchiarini scandal, will recognise the brand. In fact, the family of one of the victims presently sues Biostage in USA https://forbetterscience.com/2018/05/09/macchiarini-victims-family-sues-trachea-makers-for-wrongful-death/