The organ has to enable a “large mammal” to live “a normal lifestyle” for at least three months.
The Methuselah Foundation is offering the prize money to the first research group to make a liver that is able to go into a “large mammal, enabling the host to recover in the absence of native liver function and survive three months with a normal lifestyle,” according to the prize’s website. The winner has to complete this feat by December 31, 2018.
The liver award, officially called the New Organ Liver Prize, is meant to draw attention to a field of science Methuselah Foundation officials think is understudied, David Gobel, the foundation’s CEO, said in a statement. Methuselah Foundation officials have been working on their New Organ Prize for some time, with announcements in 2010 and again earlier this month. The prize site talks about the long waiting list for donated organs. If man-made organs were available, nobody would have to wait, or die waiting.
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The above story is based on materials provided by Popsci.
