Rochester now has a xenotransplant facility in its backyard. Experts say this field is primed for progress

STEWARTVILLE, Minn. — It's a treatment with a 95% cure rate. But not everyone can get it, and receiving it might just be the result of chance. For transplant surgeon Dr. Jayme Locke, this is where the United States stands with kidney transplantation. Despite being the most commonly performed transplant operation — around 27,500 in the U.S. last year — some 96,500 people are on the kidney transplant waiting list, according to data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. "I mean, it is remarkable how well it works, and yet we don't have enough to go around," Locke said. This is where some physicians and researchers, including Locke, see an opportunity for xenotransplantation — using non-human organs to replace people's malfunctioning ones. This field of research has existed almost as long as organ transplantation itself, and a few humans are already walking around with animal tissue within them — some heart valve replacements are made with parts from pigs or cows.

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