12 surgeons from New York have a pig kidney transplanted into a human being for the first time ever, without triggering immediate rejection by the recipient's immune system, according to Reuters.

This is a potentially major advance that could eventually help alleviate a dire shortage of human

organs for transplant.

The procedure done at NYU Langone Health in New York City involved the use of a pig whose genes had been altered so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger almost immediate rejection.