Work package 3

In WP 3 piglets will be produced which carry the advanced genetic modification set as defined in WP 2. This will be done by the Munich group in the newly established Center for Innovative Medical Models, CiMM. The health of these animals will be assessed as well as the lack of gene products of knockouts and the tissue expression pattern for the integrated transgenes confirmed. Genetically modified piglets will be shipped to Bern for perfusion experiments with limbs using whole human blood. Pig limbs can be perfused with human blood for much longer than solid organs, allowing to study the interaction of human cells (NK cells, macrophages, granulocytes, T cells) with the porcine endothelium. Limb perfusions and all respective analyses will be performed jointly by the Bern and Geneva groups.