Gene-edited pig kidneys could offer a lifeline to patients stuck waiting for a human donor. A woman has lived with a pig kidney for more than nine months without needing dialysis, a record-setting achievement. The woman underwent the operation at Massachusetts General Hospital on November 22 last year. As of Thursday, the kidney has been functioning for 285 days, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based eGenesis, the biotech company that used Crispr gene editing to make the organ fit for human transplantation. Previously, the record for a person living with a transplanted pig kidney was 271 days, set by Tim Andrews. Most people in need of a kidney transplant wait three to five years on average to receive one, though it can take longer depending on blood type and other factors.

Animal-to-human transplant science took a major step forward this week after surgeons transplanted a kidney and a liver from pigs into humans. In Boston, a 62-year-old terminal patient received a genetically-altered kidney from a pig in a world first earlier this month. The new organ began to produce urine almost immediately, doctors at Mass General said, and the patient is stable and walking. Meanwhile, in China, a 50-year-old brain-dead man became the first to receive a genetically-engineered liver from a pig -- which was kept in his body for 10 days. Surgeons say the organ's color and texture appeared'normal' upon extraction and that it was even secreting bile -- a fluid aiding digestion.