As a lung transplant surgeon, Matt Bacchetta has watched countless patients wait for an organ, only to not get one. About 80 percent of donor lungs are not in good enough to shape to use. Now Bacchetta and a team of researchers from Columbia University in New York City have shown that they can repair damaged pig lungs so they are suitable for transplants. If it works in humans, the discovery could dramatically expand the number of usable donor organs, the researchers say.

“There’s such a