On Mar. 21, 2024, Harvard Medical School physician-scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital announced they had successfully transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a human, a milestone in quest to provide more organs to patients in need.

The patient, 62-year-old Richard (Rick) Slayman of Weymouth, Mass., received the kidney in a four-hour surgery on March 16. He has type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, the most common causes of chronic kidney disease. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. are awaiting an organ for transplant, and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ.