Transgene

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On 22nd August, TRANSGENE took part in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. As part of the ‘Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas’ strand, James Lowe presented a show entitled ‘Will Pigs Save Our Bacon?’ at The Stand’s New Town Theatre on George Street.

The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas brings academics into the festival, and was pioneered by comedian Susan Morrison, who hosts all of the shows. It is supported by the Beltane Public Engagement Network, of which James has been a fellow, and is produced by Stephen Wright of the Fair Pley production company.

The topic of the show was the prospect of the transplantation of organs from pigs to humans – xenotransplantation. With audience participation, games and discussion, James covered some of the scientific, technical, ethical and regulatory issues and problems associated with making xenotransplantation work. He was able to draw upon the history of transplantation and share his own insights from the history of pig genomics and the role of immunological research in that.

Professor Alan Archibald of the Roslin Institute provided an account of recent developments in the field of genome editing, and James then related the potential use of these techniques to remove potential viral threats to recipients of transplanted organs and to help combat immune rejection.The show, and the preparation for it, are just one part of the wider engagement efforts of the TRANSGENE team, with more to be unveiled over the coming months.

Photo credit: Niki Vermeulen