The first paper on a CRISPR xenotransplant is out in the American Journal of Transplantation. It’s about two swine kidneys with 10 modified genes transplanted into a dead brain man as a proof of concept. The surgery was performed on September 30 by Jayme Locke and colleagues from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

So from September to January, we can count 4 (four!) xenotransplantations done, including the heart transplanted a few weeks ago into the first living patient that is convalescing as we write.

The others both involve kidneys but differ from the published one when we come to the amount of genetic modification and the kind of surgical procedure. They were carried out in September and November, using an organ from a GalSafe pig (with only one edited gene) attached outside the abdomen of deceased whole-body donors at NYU Langone Health.

The xenoheart and xenokidneys were developed by Revivicor. The field is definitely warming up, but no clinical trial was initiated yet.