Researchers at the Carlos Simon Foundation in Valencia, Spain have developed a system to keep a uterus alive outside the human body.
After developing their system using sheep uteruses, they finally received a uterus from a human hysterectomy patient, which they were able to keep alive for 24 hours. Usually – for example, in the case of womb transplants – the organs only remain viable for about two hours after being removed.
The researchers hope eventually to be able to keep organs alive for a full menstrual cycle in order to study implantation.
The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
MIT Technology Review has the full story.