A breakthrough approach aims to create a universal kidney that can be transplanted into patients of any blood type, potentially easing the kidney donor shortage.

By removing blocking blood type antigens, the method enables more kidneys to be used across blood types, with particular benefit for type O recipients who struggle to find matches.

If refined, the technique could speed up kidney transplants and shorten wait times, addressing the scarcity of type O kidneys and expanding overall donor availability.

Experts caution that while the results are promising, the approach still requires further refinement and clinical trials before it can be used in patients.

Early signs show the transplanted kidney can revert toward the original blood type by day three, triggering an immune response and underscoring the need for longer-term viability improvements.

Longer-term challenges include managing immune responses, ensuring durability of the converted kidney, and translating findings into safe, scalable human applications.

Still, researchers remain optimistic, linking years of basic science to potential patient care and the possibility of better long-term outcomes and fewer transplant complications.

The work was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in 2025 and is described as a significant step toward real-world impact in organ transplantation.

Broader efforts are pursuing alternatives like pig kidneys and new antibodies to expand compatibility and reduce rejection risks.

Led by biochemist Stephen Withers at the University of British Columbia, the team demonstrated the transformation in a living (brain-dead) recipient, where the engineered kidney functioned for several days.

Current cross-type tolerance methods are costly, time-consuming, and risky; the new enzymatic approach could streamline transplantation and broaden organ availability.

Type O kidneys are in short supply and a major portion of waitlist fatalities; the approach seeks to broaden compatibility without immunosuppression, though it is not yet ready for human trials.