A recent study published in the Nature journal found that fourteen people who were legally blind now have improved vision thanks to a new procedure in which material derived from pigs is injected into patients’ eyes.
On the latest episode of the “Something Offbeat” podcast, we spoke to study author Dr. Neil Lagali of Linköping University in Sweden about how this procedure could make it easier to restore sight in patients around the world.
“Basically, the idea is that we... put it into the eye and it restores the transparency that’s lost, or it restores the integrity and the strength,” he explained.
We also spoke to xenotransplantation expert Dr. David K.C. Cooper about the different ways animals such as pigs are helping researchers advance human medicine.
“This year, one of my colleagues at the University of Maryland, they did transplant a pig heart for patients,” he said. “And I think there will be more cases coming over the next two or three years.”
Each week on “Something Offbeat”, we take a deep dive into some of the headlines that make you stop and think. If you have suggestions for stories we should cover, send them to somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.
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