Patients are so sick and tired of waiting years for transplants that they are applying in droves to receive vital organs from pigs

On a farm in the southern US state of Virginia, David Ayares and his research teams breed genetically modified pigs to transplant their organs into human patients. Revivicor, the biotech company led by Ayares, is at the forefront of xenotransplantation research — implanting animal organs into humans — aimed at solving the chronic organ shortage that kills thousands of Americans each year.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP—Getty Images