Growing a new type of organ donor

Researchers at UW–Madison created a breed of pig called the Wisconsin Miniature Swine to better model and understand human disease. Photo by: Jeff Miller

UW–Madison researchers work at the front of a wave of science modifying pig genes to study vexing diseases and answer desperate pleas to fill organ transplant shortfalls, according to coverage today in The Wall Street Journal.

Read more about animal science professor Dhanansayan “Dhanu” Shanmuganayagam’s work to unravel the secrets of the painful and surprisingly common genetic disorder NF1 in partnership with young Mason Konsitzke, his dad Chuck, associate director of UW–Madison’s Biotechnology Center, and a pig named Tank:

To help kids battling a rare disease, scientists forge a genetic link between people and pigs (2017)

Pigs play a critical role in fight against NF1 (2017)