This record-breaking funding marks a 73 percent growth in research awards over nine years. 

Organ donors save lives and help advance medical research.

With news about UAB’s first peer-reviewed, published transplant of genetically modified pig kidneys into a brain-dead human individual, there are many questions about what this means for the future of transplant and how this will save countless lives moving forward.

UAB physicians are working on the next steps to begin compassionate or emergency use of the pig kidneys in living humans. Two major approvals will be required.

In the study published in the American Journal of Transplantation, UAB researchers tested the first human preclinical model for transplanting genetically modified pig kidneys into humans.

Jim Parsons’ legacy paves the way for thousands to potentially receive lifesaving organs through UAB’s xenotransplantation program.

The human preclinical model at UAB provides important knowledge before a Phase I clinical trial can begin for living human recipients. Decades of work by researchers across the world preceded UAB’s first clinical-grade pig kidney xenotransplant.

From its incompatible kidney transplant program to deceased donor programs, to xenotransplantation, UAB continues to seek ways to help patients who face end-stage renal disease.