 At the beginning of 2022, the media brought us the news of a truly remarkable bit of technology which allowed a paralyzed man to walk again after a severe spinal injury. The implant is able to restore the connection at the site of injury by sending electrical currents to the neurons below the spinal cord injury. So far, nine people have received the implant and regained the ability to walk. The development of this life-saving device was made possible by studies in rats and monkeys. This device that can restore movement to people who are paralyzed from the waist down is a prime example of scientists working over a long period of time, in this case 30 years, towards a life-changing medical device. Next we have another breakthrough research story from January of 2022 where for the first time in history, a genetically modified pig heart was transplanted into a human patient at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The transplant was considered a success despite the patient dying two months after his surgery. The doctors involved in the patient's care made it clear that this experimental surgery always presented a risk and it was only approved as a final treatment option for the patient with their full consent. Xenotransplantation, which is the transplanting of organs from an animal to a human, is a goal that scientists across the world have been working towards for decades. Over the years, most of the research into xenotransplantation has taken place in monkeys except for two people who were classed as legally brain dead, both of whom received successful kidney transplants from genetically modified pigs in 2021. Scientists hope that further investigations will improve the outcome of this surgery and determine the next steps in this critical research to solve the global shortage of available organs for transplanting. Another story from early in the year reported that a six month old baby had become the first person in the world to receive a combined heart and thymus transplant. Born with a weak heart and problems with his immune system, the child spent time on life support and needed numerous heart operations and treatments for infections. So how did animal research contribute to this life saving transplant? Well it was research in mice that originally provided the evidence that transplanting a small piece of thymus tissue from the heart donor can help the body accept the foreign heart and therefore prevent organ rejection. Every week in the UK, 12 people under the age of 35 die of an undiagnosed heart condition very often caused by cardiomyopathy, which is a genetic heart disease. Scientists have developed a cure that works in animals. It silences the faulty genes using a precise genetic technique. This gene therapy, if successful in the next stage of human trials, will be a once in a generation opportunity to relieve families of the constant worry that they will develop heart failure and need a transplant. Epstein bar virus is a type of herpes virus commonly spread via saliva and it is present in over 90% of the population. The virus causes glandular fever, which our American friends will also know as mono, and it is associated with multiple sclerosis, lymphoma and stomach cancer. In 2022, researchers developed a vaccine to protect against the virus that has shown promise in tests with mice, ferrets and rhesus macaques, a species of monkey. After receiving the vaccine against Epstein bar virus, 17% of genetically engineered mice with a human-like immune system became infected, compared to 100% of mice that did not receive the vaccine. None of the vaccinated mice developed lymphomas, compared to half of the unvaccinated mice. Human trials are expected to start in 2023. If proven successful, the vaccine could be administered to children and prevent Epstein bar-related conditions. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK. There are around 48,500 new lung cancer cases in the UK every year, which equals more than 130 cases every day. Scientists have confirmed the link between car fumes and lung cancer that helps explain why so many non-smokers develop the disease. The findings in mice and human tissues outline how fine particulates contained in car fumes awaken dormant mutations in lung cells and tip them into a cancerous state. At least 2.6 million people in the UK have narrowing of the arteries around the heart, which can lead to a heart attack, angina, or both. Researchers have showed in genetically altered mice that this build-up of plaque can be reduced by increasing chaperone-mediated autophagy, a process that keeps cells functioning by selectively degrading cellular proteins. For the first time, a robot successfully carried out keyhole surgery on the bowels of pigs with limited intervention. In this scenario, the robot was used to join two ends of the intestines after a section was removed, on four pigs with limited human intervention. One week after the surgery, the results were significantly better than those achieved by human surgeons. Robots used in human operations are generally used on small, rigid parts of the body that do not change shape, such as bone. Automated surgery on soft tissue is extremely difficult due to the movement of the tissue. Brain organoids are grown to study human disease, but they have limitations. To create more accurate models of the brain, researchers transplanted human stem cell-derived cortical organoids into the brains of newborn rats. Here, the human organoids developed mature cell types that integrated into sensory and motivation-related circuits. The implanted cells extend axons throughout the rat brain. Researchers were able to see the implanted cells responding to sensory inputs, such as air being blown across the rat's whiskers. How you behave when you are sick has been shown to play an important role in recovery from an infection. Animals and humans tend to eat, drink and move less when they are fighting an infection and feeling unwell. By provoking immune responses in mice, researchers demonstrated that a specific population of cells in the brain stem induced three telltale sickness behaviors. Inhibiting these neurons blunts each of these behavioral elements of the sickness response. The findings directly link information to neural pathways regulating behavior, offering insight into how the immune system interacts with the brain. That concludes our top 10 animal research news stories for 2022. As always, more information can be found on each of the stories we have covered on our website and via the links in the caption below. Thank you for listening and don't forget to subscribe to keep up to date with the most recent animal research news stories.