The first baby has been born after a uterus transplant from a dead donor
A woman who received a uterus transplant from a deceased donor has given birth to a healthy baby girl, according to a paper in the Lancet.
The news: The 32-year-old mother suffers from Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome and was born without a uterus. But in September 2016, surgeons at the University of São Paulo in Brazil conducted a 10-hour transplant operation to provide her with one taken from a dead donor. Seven months later, the team transferred an IVF-created embryo into the womb. The baby was delivered by caesarean section in December 2017. The donor, who was 45 when she died of a brain hemorrhage, had delivered three children.
World first: Until this point, only uterus transplants from living donors had led to successful births. The 10 previous attempts to achieve pregnancies using uteruses from dead donors failed or led to miscarriages. Uterus transplantation, even from living donors, is still a very new procedure. The first successful birth from a living uterus donor was in Sweden in 2014, and there have only been 11 babies delivered that way since.
Why this matters: Expanding the pool of donors to include the dead as well as the living could help increase the number of available uteruses. Few people are willing to give up their wombs while they’re alive, but it might prove easier to convince people to bequeath them, especially those already signed up for organ donations.
Deep Dive
Biotechnology

The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus
The first transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human may have ended prematurely because of a well-known—and avoidable—risk.

Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging
The oil kingdom fears that its population is aging at an accelerated rate and hopes to test drugs to reverse the problem. First up might be the diabetes drug metformin.

Anti-aging drugs are being tested as a way to treat covid
Drugs that rejuvenate our immune systems and make us biologically younger could help protect us from the disease’s worst effects.

Why China is still obsessed with disinfecting everything
Most public health bodies dealing with covid have long since moved on from the idea of surface transmission. China’s didn’t—and that helps it control the narrative about the disease’s origins and danger.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.