The Faculty Lounge

A record, and a setback, for xenotransplantation

Science has the story, and Al Roth comments. 

When I present papers on transplantation and the kidney shortage (like this one), I often get questions about the future of xenotransplantation, which has been in the news lately. The most recent record of 4 months and 9 days suggests that progress is being made. But the fact that the kidney ultimately had to be removed shows that more progress is needed. As Roth says, "Four months is not nothing. So kidneys from transgenic pigs remain in the future of clinical medicine, but maybe not the imminent future."

 

A 53-year-old grandmother who received a kidney from a gene-edited pig on 25 November had it removed last week after the organ suddenly stopped functioning. The 4 months, 9 days set a new record for a pig organ in a human, but is another setback for the long-struggling field of xenotransplantation

[image or embed]

— Kim Krawiec (@kimkrawiec.bsky.social) April 12, 2025 at 9:18 AM

This Magic Moment

"This Magic Moment" is probably the second best known composition by Doc Pomus and his writing partner Mort Shuman. The first, of course, is "Save the Last Dance for Me," which was a Saturday post here in 2021. Doc Pomus -- birth name Jerome Felder -- was the Brooklyn born son of Jewish immigrants, who changed his name to sound (he thought) more like a blues singer. A polio victim at age seven (in 1932, decades before the Salk vaccine, when polio was great), he walked with crutches most of his life, and eventually used a wheelchair. He was the brother of the prominent New York City lawyer Raoul Felder. "Magic Moment," like "Save the Last Dance," was written for Ben E. King and the Drifters, who released it in 1960, reaching 16 on the Hot 100; the original audio is at the bottom of the post. It was covered by Jay and the Americans in 1969, charting at number 6; interestingly, it was originally the B-side for the totally forgettable "Since I Don't Have You." Jay Black also changed his name, from David Blatt, evidently to sound more, well, American.

CFP: The Paris Congress at 125: Comparative Law’s Entanglement with Power from Paris to Today

This just in:

The American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL), the leading scholarly association for the study of comparative law, is pleased to invite submissions for papers to be presented at the 2025 ASCL Annual Meeting, to be held at the McGill Faculty of Law, Montreal, Canada, from Thursday, October 16 to Saturday, October 18, 2025.

The theme of this year’s annual meeting is “The Paris Congress at 125: Comparative Law’s Entanglement with Power from Paris to Today.” The Society welcomes proposals to present research related to the theme or to any other topic of comparative law scholarship.

For more information, please visit the ASCL website, at https://ascl.org/news/call-for-proposals-2025/

 

US News and World Report: 2025 Law Schools

The second tier (51-100) is correlated with professor ranking and the Washington and Lee Law Library (citations) is .53.   That is not as strong as the first tier  (1-50) and citations. That is .83.  And first and second tier and law review citations are .87 (and 2007 professor rankings 1-99 and citations correction was .90).

US News and World Report 2025

I think that US News is off -- Harvard number 6? I don't think so.

And Columbia number 10.

And the ABA Journal: "Just how important are the U.S. News & World Report rankings? A survey of 93 law school admissions officers by the Kaplan test prep company found that 62% think that the rankings 'have lost some of their prestige over the last couple of years.'" 

US News peer assessments tier 1 (this is 50 law schools) and the citations as Washington and Lee library Law is .82. That is about the same reported in 2007 (.87).  

Closius Steps Down; Jurden Named Dean of Wilmington Law

The still-young Wilmington University School of Law has announced Judge Jan R. Jurden as its new dean.  She was appointed to the Superior Court of Delaware in 2001.  Jurden, who holds a JD from Penn State Dickinson Law, took over on April 1.

This news comes on the heels of the school's announcement that its first dean, Phillip Closius, stepped down.  He had been dean since 2023.

Call for Entries: Law Professor Social Media Census 2025 Edition

It’s been more than two years since the last Law Prof Social Media Census here at the Lounge. The results of prior Twitter censuses are here (2012),here (2019),  here (2020), here (2021), and here (2022). Lots has changed since then, including the rebranding of Twitter to “X” in 2023 and the post-election popularity of Bluesky (see here).

I’m seeking to update and expand the 2022 census of law professor social media users. If you'd like to be listed in the semi-regular census, confirm that you are already listed, or update your information, please check the spreadsheet here and read on after the fold. Spreadsheet also appears at the end of the post.

The deadline for updates is April 30, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

Nimitz Library, US Naval Academy

Nimitz Library removed nearly 400 books. Not really.

Among others, this is removed: Reginald Horsman's Josiah Nott of Mobile: Southerner, Physician, and Racial Theorist (1987). I am familiar with this, and DEI has nothing to do with it. And this: Carol Swain, The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration (2002). I am familiar with this--and this non-DEI.  I know Nicholas Guyatt's Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation. Guyatt and I are debating Perry Miller--or something like this. And I can testify that no relationship with DEI (or a tiny bit). Three of them are listed in Nimitz Library.

Actually, the Nimitz Library was not going to remove them -- or most of them.