You may have heard the news that surgeons in Baltimore transplanted a pig heart into a human patient. But did you know that the breakthrough technology (gene edited “knockout” pigs) that makes the procedure possible was pioneered at Mizzou?

Randall Prather, Curators’ Distinguished Professor and director of the National Swine Resource & Research Center, recently published an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun outlining the history of this groundbreaking research and how discoveries with knockout pigs (which included making them glow) eventually led to a lifesaving transplant.

Dr. Prather and his team continue their work as leaders in the field of pig genetics. I’m proud to see them so prominently recognized for their accomplishments and to be part of a culture of innovation that makes the impossible possible.

— Mun