On August 16, 2022, a meeting was held to discuss the supply of animals by the Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering (FZEA) of the University of São Paulo (USP) for research on organ transplantation by the Faculdade de Medicina (FM) of USP. Present were Prof. Roger Chammas, Vice-Director of FMUSP, Prof. Flávio Vieira Meirelles, from FZEA, Prof. Eckhard Wolf, from Ludwig-Maxmilians-Universität München, Germany, Prof. Luis Mauro Queiroz, Scientific Director at eGenesis, from the United States (USA), Flávio Henrique Ferreira Galvão, Head of the Laboratory of Liver Transplantation and Surgery (LIM-37) at Hospital das Clínicas, FMUSP and Dr. Andre Dong Won Lee, from the Department of Gastroenterology at FMUSP.

Professors Meirelles, Galvão and Chammas have carried out a collaborative work to enable the supply of swines with high genetic and sanitary quality from FZEA-USP to FMUSP. Prof. Flávio Meirelles brought to this meeting Professors Wolf and Queiroz, who are specialists in the production of genetically modified pigs for organ transplantation (xenotransplantation or interspecies transplantation) and who participated in the recent Brazilian Congress on Embryo Technology.

Prof. Flávio Galvão explains that “the genetic modulation of swines favors the production of animals with organs that are more compatible with those of human beings, avoiding complications related to xenotransplantation, especially the strong (hyperacute) rejection that destroys the transplanted organs in a matter of a few hours”. Galvão also adds: “the use of organs from these pigs would solve the current problem of the lack of viable donors for transplantation, which causes significant mortality of patients on waiting lists around the world”.

During the meeting were discussed the current state of this advanced technology and the recent uses of these pigs as donors in the USA in two kidney transplants in deceased donors, where the good function of the transplanted kidneys was verified 54 hours after the transplant; and a heart transplant in a very severe recipient, where the recipient had a 61-day survival.

The research on genetically modified pigs for transplantation at the Faculdade de Medicina of USP is led by Professor Emeritus Silvano Mario Attilio Raia, a world pioneer in liver transplantation, and aims to build a vivarium – a pioneer in Latin America, specializing in the production of these animals.