--- title: Why Pig Organs for Human Transplants May be Possible description: Using the genome editing technology CRISPR, researchers have developed piglets they think one day could harbor human organs. canonical: https://time.com/4896026/pig-organs-humans-crispr-genome-editing/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-10T19:25:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:56:53.408Z article:section: Health og:title: Scientists are Closer To Using Pig Organs For Transplants og:description: Using the genome editing technology CRISPR, researchers have developed piglets they think one day could harbor human organs. og:url: https://time.com/4896026/pig-organs-humans-crispr-genome-editing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa1843d81eb8d234/6988d941fb4eac2aa389341f/pigs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pig standing looking up, white background og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists are Closer To Using Pig Organs For Transplants twitter:description: Using the genome editing technology CRISPR, researchers have developed piglets they think one day could harbor human organs. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa1843d81eb8d234/6988d941fb4eac2aa389341f/pigs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists are Getting Closer To Using Pig Organs For Human Transplants by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 10, 2017 7:25 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 10, 2017 7:25 PM UTC In a scientific first, researchers have created piglets that could possibly one day provide organs for human transplants. Though the science is still early, it’s a big step forward in the quest to use pig organs to help the hundreds of thousands of people every year who await organ transplants. In a [report published Thursday in the journal _Science_](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2017/08/09/science.aan4187), scientists from Harvard University, the biotech company eGenesis and several other institutions were able to use gene editing and cloning to create virus-free piglets that could potentially be used in the future for human organ transplants. As the [New York Times reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/health/gene-editing-pigs-organ-transplants.html?%5Fr=0), researchers have wanted to explore using pigs as organ sources in the past, but plans were thwarted by the fear that viruses from the pigs, called retroviruses, could infect humans through the transplants. In the new report, scientists detail how they took pig cells and edited them using the [gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9](http://time.com/4377130/crispr-genome-editing/) to target and hinder their virus-related DNA. They then cloned those edited cells and developed an embryo. Those embryos were implanted into sows and then became piglets. As [STAT reports](https://www.statnews.com/2017/08/10/crispr-pigs-organ-transplant/), out of 37 piglets, all were born without retroviruses. Not all were brought to term, and some were killed so the scientists could check how their organs were developing, but today, 15 piglets are still alive. Study author George Church, a geneticist at Harvard and founder of eGenesis, told the Times he thinks that pig-to-human transplants could happen within two years. However, other researchers argue that it could be years before scientists even know if pig organ transplants are safe. \[[_New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/health/gene-editing-pigs-organ-transplants.html?%5Fr=0)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4896026/pig-organs-humans-crispr-genome-editing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4896026/pig-organs-humans-crispr-genome-editing/"},"headline":"Scientists are Getting Closer To Using Pig Organs For Human Transplants","datePublished":"2017-08-10T19:25:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:56:53.408Z","description":"Using the genome editing technology CRISPR, researchers have developed piglets they think one day could harbor human organs.","url":"https://time.com/4896026/pig-organs-humans-crispr-genome-editing/","keywords":["Genetics","crispr","gene editing"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa1843d81eb8d234/6988d941fb4eac2aa389341f/pigs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa1843d81eb8d234/6988d941fb4eac2aa389341f/pigs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pig standing looking up, white background","caption":"Pig standing looking up, white background","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/genetics/","name":"Genetics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4896026/pig-organs-humans-crispr-genome-editing/","name":"Scientists are Getting Closer To Using Pig Organs For Human Transplants"}}]}] ```