Fig. 1.

Concept of using pigs for de novo formation of human kidneys. hMSCs are injected into porcine embryonic metanephroi as a niche for generating hMSC-derived kidney progenitor tissue (KPT), which is grafted into the omentum of a patient with ESRD for further development and differentiation. The de novo originating kidney is finally connected to the patient’s ureter (e.g., by the SWPU system) to facilitate excretion of urine. Figure courtesy of Andreas Blutke.