Japan's first research center breeding miniature pigs to provide transplant organs for humans is to be established at a university in the city of Kagoshima, government officials said Saturday.
The center, at Kagoshima University, is expected to employ about eight staff drawn from the university's gene and animal experimentation facilities, the officials said.
Funding for the project was appropriated in the Finance Ministry's draft budget for fiscal 2002.
Miniature pigs are already used in drug trials, since they only grow to a weight of about 80 kg and their hearts and lungs are nearly the same size as those of humans.
It is hoped that human genes can be spliced into pig DNA and the resulting pigs will then provide organs for human transplants.
One challenge facing the center's staff will be ensuring the pigs remain free of viruses, since the animals can carry viruses in their DNA that could be transmitted to humans who receive the organs.
Kagoshima University professor Yoshihiko Nakanishi said a successful gene combination to breed miniature pigs to provide organs for transplant has been discovered in the United States.