The thought of dying is scary. The thought of counting down to your death is terrifying. Today, in the United States, about twenty-two people die every day waiting for organs that might not become available for years. Human to human transplants mostly occurs when the donor dies from a car accident. However, car accidents are set to decline as more driverless cars bring safety to the streets. Fortunately, we have the power of science to all those waiting for an organ. Scientists have come up with an optimistic solution using a recent scientific breakthrough: a chimera. It is defined as a species that functions with cells that originated from another species. More specifically a pig chimera.
 
Enter CRISPR, an acronym for a tool best described than actually defined. CRISPR was a discovery that was made in 2016. It is a tool that created endless possibilities for humanity and some prospects scarier than others and enables scientists to edit the human genome and turn genes on and off in just a matter of days. It further allows scientists to save relatively more money when compared to former and ineffective methods. It still requires labs and professionals to do the job. Armed with this, they created the first ever human pig embryo.
 
This process was the first test with mice and rats, and the product was successful. The experiment was to take the pancreas of mice with Type 1 diabetes change the genes and grow them back in rats and do a transplant. To do this, they took rat embryos and injected them with mouse stem cells that would develop to be a pancreas. When they transplanted islets (functions to produce insulin) from the rat to the mice, the disease was suppressed. However, the rats and mice have much more similar DNA than say a pig and a human. 
 
Doing the same type of project, the scientists injected the pig embryo with human stem cells. This wasn’t an easy process either. The human pig embryo took many trial and error experiments. The scientists then had to figure how much cells they needed, how mature the cells had to be, and what genes needed to be changed. 
 
Although there are many biological components that make us different from pigs, there are still some genetic similarities. For example, most of the organs in pigs are about the same size as humans: hearts, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, and the intestines. For a person that would need an organ, the first step is to get stem cells from the victim. Then, it would be modified and injected into the pig. Once the pig is ready, the organ is harvested from the pig. This organ will specifically be for the donor of the stem cells. 
    
The first chimera that was created was shut down quickly because of ethical concerns from organizations that funded this program. It is not meant to become a pig man, but rather a pig with human organs.  To prevent this, scientists are taking measures that will not allow the development of the human brain in a pig. 
 
Now, in the end, the question becomes whose lives are more important the pigs or humans? Although there are many other factors to consider, this research cannot come to its full potential unless funded. The future remains uncertain but the possibilities of this intriguing experiment are endless.

 

 

Sources

 

Blakemore, Eric. "Human-Pig Hybrid Created in the Lab-Here Are the Facts." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 14 June 2017. Web. 21 June 2017.
Eck, Allison. "Scientists Use CRISPR to Grow Human Organs Inside of Pigs." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 06 June 2016. Web. 21 June 2017.