20 NIH grants restored to UMass system after judge rules against Trump admin

Twenty grants from the National Institutes of Health previously awarded to the University of Massachusetts system will be restored after a Monday court order from a federal judge.
U.S. District Court Judge William Young ordered the Trump administration to restore more than 360 NIH grants nationwide that were the subject of two lawsuits — one filed by affected individuals and industry organizations, the other by 16 state attorneys general, including Massachusetts.
The restored grants are only a sliver of the NIH grant cancellations — 2,282 grants amounting to nearly $3.8 billion of lost funding as of June 4, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Young declared the cancellations 'illegal,' saying he had 'never seen government racial discrimination like this' in his 40 years on the bench. Many canceled grants were related to LGBTQ communities, racial minorities and other topics considered 'diversity, equity and inclusion' (or DEI) by the Trump administration.
Read more: Federal judge orders Trump admin to reinstate hundreds of NIH grants
The federal government now has the opportunity to appeal Young's initial order in the cases.
As part of the Monday order, 20 grants are slated to be restored to the UMass system. Listed by grant awardee, they are:
UMass Chan Medical School — 'Pathway to graduate study post-baccalaureate training program'
UMass Lowell — 'Longitudinal Mechanisms of Food and Nutrition Security and Cardiometabolic Health in PROSPECT'
UMass Chan Medical School — 'Structural Racism and Engagement of Family Caregivers in Serious Illness Care'
UMass Boston — 'U54 Comprehensive Partnership for Cancer Disparities Research'
University of Massachusetts — 'Optimizing an mHealth intervention to improve uptake and adherence of the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in vulnerable adolescents and emerging adults'
University of Massachusetts — 'Applying Deep Learning for Predicting Retention in PrEP Care and Effective PrEP Use among Key Populations at Risk for HIV in Thailand'
University of Massachusetts — 'Effect of Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations on Behavioral Health Care Quality and Outcomes for Children'
University of Massachusetts — 'Adapting Effective mHealth Interventions to Improve Uptake and Adherence to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Thai Young MSM'
University of Massachusetts — 'Faithful Response II: COVID-19 Rapid Test-to-Treat with African American Churches'
University of Massachusetts — 'Training the Long-Term Services and Supports Dementia Care Workforce in Provision of Care to Sexual and Gender Minority Residents'
University of Massachusetts — 'Pathway to graduate study post-baccalaureate training program'
University of Massachusetts — 'Improving COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups with Rheumatic Diseases'
University of Massachusetts — 'Regulated Proteolysis in Bacteria Development and Stress Response'
University of Massachusetts — 'IRACDA at Tufts University' (postdoctoral training)
University of Massachusetts — 'Deciphering the Molecular Features Underlying LRP1-Mediated Tau Spread (Diversity Supplement)'
University of Massachusetts — 'Bacterial and Molecular Determinants of Mycobacterial Impermeability'
University of Massachusetts — 'Initiative for Maximizing Student Development at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School'
University of Massachusetts — 'Improving the Part C Early Intervention Service Delivery System for Children with ASD: A Randomized Clinical Trial (Diversity Supplement)'
University of Massachusetts — 'ASHA Bangladesh — An Integrated Intervention to Address Depression in Low Income Rural Women'
University of Massachusetts — 'Outlining Shadows of Structural Racism Using Publicly Available Social Determinants of Health Data'
In a statement Monday night, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell called the court ruling 'a win for us all and a rebuke of the discriminatory actions carried out by this Administration.
'We won't let this Administration play politics with our public health or violate the law,' Campbell said. 'I look forward to seeing these federal funds restored to life-saving and critical health care and research.'
A Harvard Medical School associate professor is also slated to see her canceled grants restored. Brittany Charlton, founding director of the LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence, is one of the individual plaintiffs suing.
Her NIH funding to study the mental health of young LGBTQ people was cut in March, affecting a team of 18 researchers and causing students to fear for their safety.
As federal funding cuts hit Harvard, a private investment firm and other donors step up
Trump admin asks court to rule against Harvard without a trial
Federal judge orders Trump admin to reinstate hundreds of NIH grants
Federal judge delays decision over Trump admin barring Harvard foreign students
Harvard's Monday court date will be important for international students. Here's why
Read the original article on MassLive.

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I tossed my expensive makeup to get rid of my acne. Here are the noncomedogenic products I use now

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22 minutes ago

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The Organ Transplant Revolution Starts Here - Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Podcast on CNN Audio

Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:03 What you're about to hear is a story of history in the making. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:20 A medical first, a story of survival, bravery, and heroism. I'm not a hero. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:29 To try and solve a crisis. Taking the clamp off the artery. Nice and pink, yeah. You see, at any given moment, more than 100,000 people are waiting. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:56 And every day 17 people sadly will die. Speaker 2 00:01:00 For any organ that you name. Only 10% make it on the list. There's just not enough of. There's not enough. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:06 Now, the potential answer to this problem might sound crazy to many. Speaker 7 00:01:10 I have received a major, major, groundbreaking organ transplant. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:19 Controversial to some Speaker 7 00:01:21 for that animal. This is a life of deprivation. It's an early death. It is much suffering. I don't think that's ever okay. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:28 Even blasphemous to others. Speaker 5 00:01:30 Contacted the bishop and then the Vatican sent me a paper Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:34 But now, more than ever, it's also incredibly promising. Could animals be the answer? Is it right? Is it wrong? Can it even work? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:49 That is an ultrasound with a pig kidney inside Tim, something that very few Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:54 people ever get to see. For the last two years, we've been searching for answers. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:02:01 It's powerful just to be here with these pigs. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:02:05 I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and here is part one of Animal Farm. In the remote mountains of Patagonia, about as far from civilization as you can get, Robert Montgomery almost died. Robert Montgomery 00:02:22 I had a cardiac arrest and my son was doing CPR on me and they put me in the back of a truck and drove me to a hospital and they looked at me and said we can't take care of this. They brought an ambulance up and continued resuscitation and drove five hours to the closest hospital. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:02:47 I've heard a lot of extraordinary stories throughout my career, but just the idea, the cardiac arrest, and then your son doing chest compressions on you. Robert Montgomery 00:02:54 Yeah, he saved my life. When I woke up I couldn't do anything, I couldn't walk or talk. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:03:09 That he even survived. It really is just so extraordinary. But still, the underlying problem, something known as dilated cardiomyopathy, where the heart is just too weak to adequately pump blood, that was still with him, lurking, constantly threatening his life. Robert Montgomery 00:03:28 Father died at 52 from cardiomyopathy, the same disease that I had. Brother dropped dead at 35. Another brother got a heart transplant at 39. And then me. I basically accepted that I might not live a normal lifespan. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:03:51 Almost every single man in his family, sick or dying of this heart disease. Was it your father's doctor who said that transplantation really wasn't going to be a solution? Robert Montgomery 00:04:04 My mother was really begging him to come up with something, and he said, you know, he's too old and... Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:04:12 52 Robert Montgomery 00:04:13 52 and it doesn't work anyway, so you wouldn't want that. That was 1976 Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:04:20 Even though the first successful heart transplant was back in 1967 in South Africa, it would take decades for it to become widely available. Not in time for Dr. Montgomery's dad. And so Robert Montgomery was given a mission, become a transplant surgeon, and hopefully one day save people just like his dad. Robert Montgomery 00:04:43 Alright, how does that look with the camera? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:04:45 'It wasn't easy. By age 56, he had had three near-catastrophic cardiac arrests himself. The only cure, he was told, was a heart transplant. Robert Montgomery 00:04:56 For any organ that you name, only 10% make it on the list. I wasn't sick enough to get on the lists. You have to get so sick before you would even qualify to be in the running to receive an organ. And it's just unacceptable. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:12 And that's all because we have to ration organs. There's just not enough of them. Robert Montgomery 00:05:17 There's just not enough. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:18 But then it was the summer of 2018 when Robert Montgomery suddenly became sick enough. Once again, he was overseas. This time it was Italy, with his wife Denise. Denise Montgomery 00:05:30 Have four heart attacks that Robert Montgomery 00:05:32 I just had one cardiac arrest after another. They gave me last rights. Denise Montgomery 00:05:39 They revived him. He said I will die if I don't get out of here. Robert Montgomery 00:05:43 They left my IVs underneath my shirt and they gave my friend a bundle of preloaded resuscitation drugs and syringes and flew back because I knew that was my ticket. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:58 The odds of survival were still not in his favor. Robert Montgomery 00:06:02 Hi sweetheart Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:06:03 'You see, even after making it on the list, 17 people die every day while waiting. Remarkably, just three weeks later, a heart became available. But it came with a catch. His donor had died of a heroin overdose, and the heart was infected with hepatitis C. In the transplant world, that is typically a no-go. In fact, thousands of hep C-infected organs are discarded every year. But Dr. Montgomery insisted that his doctors still give it to him. Robert Montgomery 00:06:35 We had just done a study showing that you could take a hepatitis C positive organ and put it into a hepatitis C negative recipient and treat them with these new antivirals. You could successfully treat the virus. Denise Montgomery 00:06:47 Robert wasn't worried, and so I was. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:06:52 It was a risk, transplanting an infected organ into someone who had his immune system suppressed. But you're probably starting to see a pattern here. Montgomery was once again willing to take the chance and prove that these infected hearts could be used safely. Robert Montgomery 00:07:09 Hello to all my friends. And it worked. Thank you for your kind thoughts and your prayers, and I'm making a very nice recovery. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:18 Within weeks, he was able to walk out of the hospital. Today, he wants to show me the place he comes to treat patients, just like him. Robert Montgomery 00:07:27 I was in this room right around the corner, so I have good feelings about this place actually. It's like hope. Yeah, it's hope. It represents hope. Behind that door, yeah. Denise Montgomery 00:07:37 He is a man on a mission. He wants to see this eradicated. Robert Montgomery 00:07:43 If this were like a cancer drug, we wouldn't allow something to be rationed like this, right? We just don't have any choice right now. So we need another choice. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:52 Another choice which Montgomery is now racing to find. Tim Andrews 00:07:57 I'll help you down. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:58 Another choice, hopefully, for this man. Tim Andrews has been living with diabetes since the 1990s, successfully managing it with insulin. Retired and happily married to his second wife, Karen, these empty nesters had big plans for their new life together, traveling the world, until one day in 2022. Tim Andrews 00:08:19 I got tired, I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna fall asleep or something. So I was checked and they said, oh yeah, stage three, kidney failure. Oh, okay. And a month later they're telling me, I am at end stage. Wow, just one month. Just one month, just quit on it. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:08:38 And what were you feeling like at that point? Tim Andrews 00:08:40 I mean, I was told, literally told, you have dialysis or you pick a box. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:08:50 It was a false choice, certain death or dialysis, meaning being dependent on a machine for the rest of his life. Tim Andrews 00:08:59 The first couple of months was like, hey, this is not gonna be so bad. As time went on, like six months in, I had a heart attack. It takes a toll on you emotionally and physically. Tim Andrews 00:09:29 This is where I get to sit. Without it, six weeks, eight weeks later, I'd be dead. It's a necessary evil. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:09:37 Necessary at least until he could get a kidney transplant. But again, just as with Montgomery, he knew that could take a while, might never happen, and the clock was ticking. I was ready to die in this chair. And that is when he learned about another option, brand new, still relatively untested. Speaker 11 00:09:58 Some people said, there's not enough information. Don't do this yet. Don't this yet." Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:10:09 You can't really tell by looking at them, but these tiny piglets have been genetically engineered to make their organs more acceptable for transplantation into humans. It's something known as xenotransplantation. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:10:22 So Mike, how unusual is it for us to even be here? Mike Curtis 00:10:25 This is very unusual. We usually try to limit this to only the staff that takes care of the animals. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:10:31 Mike Curtis is the CEO of biotech company eGenesis. Never before has he let cameras onto this very special pig farm. Mike Curtis 00:10:40 Everything's controlled, like all of the feed is clean, water's clean, the staff is clean. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:10:45 And I should just point out that I walked into a room, turned on a filter, essentially cleaned the air for five minutes before I could then go shower. That's why my hair is wet. I put on everything new here, including underwear, socks, shoes. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:10:59 The goal is to protect the pigs from us. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:11:14 You know, I got to tell you, I did not know what to expect, but it's powerful just to be here with these pigs. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:11:23 After all, these pigs are among the most genetically modified mammals on the planet. Mike Curtis 00:11:29 These piglets carry a total of 69 edits to the genome. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:11:34 Alterations to their DNA. Mike Curtis 00:11:37 We're trying to reduce the risk of disease transmission from the porcine donor to human, we're editing in a way that reduces or eliminates hypercute rejection, and then we add human regulatory trans genes to control rejection. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:11:50 'To do that, scientists take the unedited pig cells and use a gene editing tool called CRISPR. They add special CRISPR fluids to the cells, which splices out certain genes and adds other genes. You can't really see anything with the naked eye and it takes only seconds, but what is happening in this vial is truly remarkable. Let me take a second and explain. First of all, remember that all DNA is made up of four chemical bases, A, C, G and T. Think of that as your genetic blueprint. Now, a pig's DNA and a human's DNA, they actually look pretty similar, but there are some important differences. For example, the GGTA1 gene that is responsible for a carbohydrate that forms around a pig cell known as alpha-gal. Now if you put that into a human, it would cause almost instantaneous rejection. But by knocking out that specific sequence and then adding in others. Scientists can make the pig's organs much more compatible for humans. Mike Curtis 00:12:55 So in the freezer are all these cells that we've edited. We thaw that vial, we grow those cells, and then we take the nucleus from that edited cell and we transfer it. It's akin to what was done with Dolly back in the 90s, cloning. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:13:09 'And that is the process by which they have created a modern-day assembly line of genetically modified pigs. Mike Curtis 00:13:17 We've selected the Yucatan Mini Pig because fully grown, they're about 70 kilos, 150 pounds. Right, so the organs are correctly sized for a human recipient. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:13:27 Ultimately, you've got to get the size right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:13:31 Now, if the idea of using animals for human transplants sounds familiar to you, it's because the concept has been around for a long time. There have been at least 48 cases reported in the medical literature since the 1900s. You may remember one of the most famous. Robert Montgomery 00:13:46 This is Baby Faye. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:13:47 Little baby Faye in 1984. She had a baboon heart that kept her alive for 20 days. But there was always the stubborn issue of rejection. And so for a long time, xenotransplants faded into the background. Robert Montgomery 00:14:01 I think we've turned up the throttle significantly. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:14:05 What's led to that? Robert Montgomery 00:14:06 What we did is transplanted one of these organs into someone who had wanted to donate their organs was brain dead. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:14:14 'You heard that right. The first human patients to receive the gene-edited pig kidneys were brain dead. Why? In order to move the field forward without moving too fast. First, the scientists just wanted to prove that pig organs could survive in a human body. Dr. Robert Montgomery performed that operation on Maurice Miller, who was brain dead Robert Montgomery 00:14:39 We took the clamps off to let the blood go into the organ and it turned this beautiful pink color and started to make urine immediately. Robert Montgomery 00:14:48 Pretty looking kidney. Robert Montgomery 00:14:49 'That was mind-blowing. So it looks a lot like a human kidney. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:14:54 In fact, when I first met Dr. Montgomery a few years ago, he was reviewing Maurice Miller's kidney biopsy. Here's what they learned. About a month into the transplant, the pig kidney did begin to show signs of rejection. Robert Montgomery 00:15:08 See that red? Yes. That's hemorrhage. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:15:11 'But importantly, standard anti-rejection drugs did work. And the kidney function is okay? Robert Montgomery 00:15:18 It's back to normal. Robert Montgomery 00:15:20 It gave, I think, the FDA some confidence that this was going to work in humans. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:15:27 'With all that research in the background, in 2022, the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced the first xenotransplant into a living recipient, someone who is not brain dead. It would be a pig heart into 57-year-old David Bennett. Give me a high five, buddy. That was awesome. David Ayers 00:15:46 We saw two months survival of that patient and now incrementally seeing longer and longer survival in these compassionate use patients. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:15:55 David Ayers is a giant of a man. Seeing him on this farm in Blacksburg, Virginia, you may not know that he is also considered one of the most widely regarded geneticists in the world. David Ayers 00:16:06 We have about 300 research animals here. We grow the designated pathogen free pigs that were ultimately used for the decedent studies, as well as the patients that have received our organs for transplant, both hearts and kidneys. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:16:23 He's taking me to meet some of the farm's newest arrivals. David Ayers 00:16:28 Watch your head, maybe that's just me. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:16:34 There's a lot of piglets David Ayers 00:16:37 Do you want to hold one? Yeah, sure. So these are ten gene Clone Piglets. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:16:44 Here at United Therapeutics, they perform 10 gene edits on their pigs. Now remember, eGenesis in Wisconsin perform more than 60. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:16:57 If you're doing 6 times as many edits does that make it much better? David Ayers 00:16:58 I don't think more edits is necessarily better or worse. The additional 50 edits that eGenesis has done are to inactivate an endogenous pig virus. We've actually addressed that by breeding. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:17:12 In 2024, the first pig kidney transplant was announced. Speaker 14 00:17:16 My name is Dr. Leo Riella. I'm medical director of the kidney transplant program Mass General. Today, we announce the successful gene added to pay kidney transplant into a living human. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:17:28 Tim Andrews, still on dialysis, was watching all of this unfold. Tim Andrews 00:17:34 I'm like, oh, they're doing it at Mass General. And I was like, I have to be part of this. I'm not gonna make it, but I'll make it to this. And I'll tell you right up front, if it's one day and you learn something, thank God. Dr. Riella 00:17:50 His eyes really sparked up and he said, tell me what I need to do. Speaker 11 00:17:56 And they said, prepare your body for battle, because it's gonna be a battle. He had to do dental work, he had to go to physical therapy. We signed up for the gym. When he came back to see Dr. Riella, he had lost 22 pounds. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:18:13 Did you have any doubts along the way? Tim Andrews 00:18:16 You know, there's always doubt with it, but I'm like, this is my chance to do something. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:18:23 You're going to be in medical history books forever. Tim Andrews 00:18:27 Kids are going to be taught how to do it, watching me have one put in me. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:18:33 They'll know your name. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:18:38 It's a crisp January morning back at the Egenesis Pig Farm in Wisconsin. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:18:44 It's been more than a year since our first visit. Speaker 3 00:18:47 This is many years in the making. So Raphael, she'll be able to donate one of her kidneys to a man who's in dire need. And essentially, she's saving his life. Speaker 15 00:18:59 Go, Raphael! It's a really big moment. There's a lot of emotions. We love our piglets like our own. Thinking about the purpose that Raphael is serving, like getting to go and give someone a new lease on life is just such a gift. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:19:18 That someone is Tim Andrews. Raphael will be his donor. Tim Andrews 00:19:25 What a gift. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:19:30 'As Rafael departs for the 17-hour trip to Boston, Tim settles in at Mass General. Tim Andrews 00:19:37 I knew I was in great hands, these guys are just so good. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:19:42 Were you nervous the morning of? Dr. Riella 00:19:45 And we'll see you on the other side, getting ready. As a new man. We're all anxious and nervous about going through a procedure that has not been done before. And having that reassurance from him also brings a lot of positivity to the entire team. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:20:02 It's early morning, January 25th, when Dr. Riella and the surgical team travel about 50 miles outside of Boston to meet Rafael. Dr. Riella 00:20:11 It was an OR, very similar to what we see in the hospital, and the surgery to retrieve the organs occur there. They look very similar to how we do procurements. I think uniqueness is really that, who was a donor, who was coming, yeah, it was a pig. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:20:29 It's go time! Speaker 11 00:20:30 It's a dance to get the pig kidney there and get him in the operating room. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:20:37 They gotta coordinate it. Speaker 11 00:20:37 So a nurse came and said, okay, good to go. I'm like, wait, wait. We haven't said goodbye. You can't say goodbye. Oh, yes, I can. So, I actually made them wait and they said, we've got to go, I'm saying goodbye to my husband before he leaves for surgery and he may not come back. Speaker 17 00:21:00 It's a little chilly in here, okay, Tim? Tim Andrews 00:21:01 I like cold. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:21:02 The operation lasts a little over two hours, around the same as a traditional transplant, and the big kidney. It looks, feels, and functions very much like a human kidney. And here is when surgeons connect the pig kidney to Tim's artery and vein. After that, the moment of truth. Surgeons release the clamp so blood can flow into the kidneys and the organ turns pink. And now this, urine, successfully flowing through the kidneys. Dr. Riella 00:21:36 Wow, look at that. We were very surprised. We were hoping that we would start making urine within a day or two, but seeing the urine being produced right away was not what at least I expected to be happening that close. Everything went well. Speaker 11 00:21:53 They said, they put the kidney on the table and started connecting him to the kidney and he actually peed across the room. So they were very, very excited. Of course, I started bawling like a baby. We were all crying. I mean, we were all. oh my goodness, I mean, this is not the end, but we're getting there, we're getting there. Tim Andrews 00:22:19 'I felt great and all of a sudden I had energy and I was like, this is beyond what I thought I was going to get. So right away you felt that coming? Right away I felt that. I was, like, look at me, I'm a new man, it was like a new birth, I said, I have a new birthday, 125-25 is my new birthday. Because I was alive and I hadn't been for a long time and I'm like, this is amazing. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:22:57 But there was still a long way to go. This is still so experimental after all. And Tim and Karen knew how quickly things could change. It was just a year earlier that Lisa Passano also needed a kidney. Her daughter, Brittany Rydell, remembers just how sick her mother was. Brittany Rydell 00:23:17 It means no more dialysis, hopefully. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:23:20 'Like Tim, she was an end-stage kidney disease, but Lisa's heart was also failing. And that is why a traditional kidney transplant was not an option for her. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:23:30 She was too sick. Brittany Rydell 00:23:32 Yeah, absolutely. Robert Montgomery 00:23:34 Lisa Passano was on death's door. I mean, she was not gonna live. You know, days to weeks from dying. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:23:44 So Dr. Montgomery, who was her surgeon, suggested a pig kidney. Robert Montgomery 00:23:48 But there are some people who are willing to take that chance, and she was one of them. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:23:54 'In the spring of 2024, Lisa Pisano became one of the first two patients in the world to receive a gene-edited pig kidney transplant. Brittany Rydell 00:24:02 I got more energy. I feel energized. After her kidney transplant, I have to say she looked the best that she looked in so I've seen her so happy. It was definitely the healthiest I had seen her in a while. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:24:15 She was doing well at that point. Brittany Rydell 00:24:17 Yeah, we were so hopeful, because I had seen her so much better, and I figured if anything was going to go wrong, it would have went wrong at that moment, and not months later. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:24:28 Pesano developed several infections and never recovered enough to leave the hospital. Brittany Rydell 00:24:33 I don't have regrets about the surgery, I just wish that she could have had the opportunity to really enjoy it more. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:24:40 I know it's probably hard to sort of think of it this way, but she was a real pioneer. Brittany Rydell 00:24:45 One of the first things she said to me was even if this doesn't work for me, it can work for someone else. And I think about that a lot. Robert Montgomery 00:24:52 The first patient that we did was in this bed, in the bed that I was in, Lisa Passano. You know, taking care of that one life. And if they were just that, that would be great, but then you have this opportunity to really impact maybe thousands, maybe millions of lives. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:25:11 Now Tim knew Lisa's story. He knew that there was a tremendous amount of uncertainty. Tim Andrews 00:25:17 Stepping forward, you're gonna do something for humanity. This is a way that we can bring this forward. And this is the hope for all these people that it's gonna be okay. We're gonna find a way, which is amazing to me. It was just, I have to be part of this. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:25:40 So would this be a success for Tim, and what does it all mean for the 100,000 people currently waiting? Tim Andrews 00:25:47 There's bumps in the road. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:25:48 We'll dive into that when we come back next week with part two of Animal Farm. Thanks for listening.

Forbes

30 minutes ago

• Forbes

The 4-Step System That Turns Your Triggers Into Superpowers

The 4-step system that turns your triggers into superpowers Next time someone cuts you off in traffic, watch what happens. Your heart races. Your jaw clenches. Your face flushes hot with anger. That's a trigger in action. Most people let emotional reactions control them. They respond without thinking, letting feelings dictate their next move. But these trigger moments hold hidden insights for anyone willing to look deeper. Adults experience anger about 14 times per week, and roughly 30 percent report difficulty controlling it. But even brief episodes of anger can impair blood vessel function for up to 40 minutes, raising heart rate and blood pressure. You have to learn how to let it go. I used to get triggered by slow walkers. My heart would race as I rushed around people strolling leisurely through busy streets. "Don't they have somewhere to be?" I'd think. But the trigger wasn't about them. It revealed my own inability to create priority systems that would let me stay calm. Next time you get triggered by anything at all, dig into it. Figure out the true meaning. Once you find it, you're free. Most people mishandle emotional responses. They either explode with reaction or suppress their feelings entirely. Neither approach works. Suppression buries the reaction until it resurfaces stronger next time. Reaction keeps you stuck in patterns you can't spot. Everyone experiences emotional buttons being pushed. Top performers get curious when it happens. They see triggers as messengers carrying important information about themselves. Your body always knows first. Before your conscious mind registers the trigger, your physiology shifts. Some people feel a tightness in their chest. Others notice their breathing change. Your face gets hot. Your stomach knots. This physical reaction is your early warning system. When that warning system activates, pause. Notice the sensation without immediately acting on it. Simply observing "I'm feeling triggered right now" creates space between stimulus and response. The more familiar you become with your trigger signature, the sooner you can intercept automatic reactions. This is the first step to using your triggers for self-development. The quality of your insights depends on the quality of your questions. When triggered, average people ask disempowering questions like "Why is this person so annoying?" or "Why does this always happen to me?" These questions generate useless answers that keep you stuck. Questions control your focus. Questions create clarity. Once you recognize your trigger response, ask different questions. "What exactly am I responding to here?" "What does this reaction reveal about my values or assumptions?" "What's beneath this emotion?" They turn emotional reactions from annoyances into tools for self-discovery. Now you have more awareness, understand that every emotional reaction reflects something about you. Getting annoyed whenever team members question your decisions might signal a deep fear of making mistakes. Anger masks vulnerability. Your triggers reveal your blind spots so you can transform them into superpowers. Once you recognize this pattern, you can respond thoughtfully rather than defensively, and make progress like never before. Don't let everyday occurrences catch you off guard when you know exactly what's going on. Imagine every situation is holding up a mirror and delivering a lesson. Then find it. Sometimes you're triggered by what you fear becoming. Sometimes by what you secretly admire. Sometimes by what challenges your identity. The mirror never lies. Turning emotional reactions into superpowers requires a framework. When triggered, follow these steps: First, notice the physical sensation. Second, name the emotion without judgment. Third, get curious about what's underneath. Fourth, look for patterns across different triggering situations. Finally, extract the insight and decide how to apply it. With practice, this becomes automatic. You'll find yourself transforming triggers into game-changing insights in real time. What once derailed your day becomes fuel for growth. The more you practice, the faster you progress. The flywheel never stops. Learning to transform your triggers gives you an edge few people possess. You'll respond thoughtfully while others react impulsively. You'll recover quickly from setbacks while others stay stuck. You'll become insanely self-aware while others remain blind to their patterns. Notice when you get triggered. Spot the physical feeling. Ask what it's showing you. Find the mirror. Create your system. The next time something pushes your buttons, you'll be ready to transform that trigger into exactly the insight you need to move forward. Leverage those moments for growth or let them control you.