UBC enzyme technology clears first human test toward universal donor organs for transplantation
University of British Columbia successfully developed enzymes that converted a kidney to universal type O for transplant, marking a major step toward faster, more compatible organ donations. Originally published in The University of British Columbia site by Erik Rolfsen on October 3, 2025 The kidney, pre-transplant, in a perfusion device which is used to circulate a solution that contains the converting enzymes. Source: Nature Biomedical Engineering. The first successful human transplant of a kidney c onverted from blood type A to universal type O used special enzymes developed at the University of BritishColumbia to help prevent a mismatch and rejection of the organ. Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering , the achievement marks a major step toward helping thousands of patients get kidney transplants sooner . In a first-in-human experiment , the enzyme-converted kidney was transplanted into a brain-dead recipient with consent from the family, allowin...