Are Personal Pigs The Future of Human Medicine?

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2022

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the future, you might leave your doctor’s office with a prescription for a pig whose DNA has been modified to match your own. Scientists are already working on genetically engineering pigs to help predict the progression of a disease, or serve as an organ donor for those who need a transplant. But could pigs one day become keys to truly personalized medicine? WSJ’s Danny Lewis explores the promise and potential pitfalls of using animals to help human health. What’s something you’re curious about that could shape the future? Email us at [email protected] Further reading: Growing a New Type of Organ Donor Scientists to Study Pig-Organ Transplants in Brain-Dead People for Longer Periods Scientists Transplant Human Tissue into Rat Brains, Opening Door to New Research The Human Genome “Rosetta Stone” and The Future of Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The business environment for foreign companies in China can be summed up in one word,
0:06.2	challenging.
0:07.7	Here the full Wall Street Journal series, the state of Xi's Chinese Dream, all in one
0:13.1	place, and WSJ Special Access, only for subscribers and only on Spotify.
0:26.3	Imagine you're going into the doctor's office for some tests.
0:29.5	And how are you today?
0:30.5	I just don't feel good.
0:32.5	You've learned you have some kind of illness, cancer, maybe, or a cardiovascular condition.
0:37.7	And you want to know how it might affect you later in life.
0:40.6	So we're going to take a little blood.
0:42.5	In the future, your doctor might order up a genetic test.
0:45.8	Sequence your DNA, send the results off to a lab, and order you up a pig.
0:54.6	One whose genes have been modified to be similar to your own and give you a peek into
0:58.6	how that disease could progress as you age, or maybe serve as a personal organ donor.
1:05.0	We see a lot of value in pigs acting as almost surrogate parallel to human studies.
1:12.0	And asking the kind of questions you couldn't do it in the patient.
1:17.6	From the Wall Street Journal, this is the future of everything.
1:20.8	I'm Danny Lewis.
1:22.4	Medicine is becoming more and more tailored to individuals.
1:25.8	These pigs could be one way to get us to a world where doctors can use patients' DNA
1:30.3	to model disease, grow organs, or find new treatments.
1:34.7	Stick around.
	...

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