A new machine developed by the University of Michigan keeps donor lungs “alive” outside the human body for up to six hours. That gives doctors critical extra time to inspect the lungs as the machine pumps special fluid through them, essentially “reconditioning” them for transplant, said Dr. Paul Lange, the medical director for Gift of Life Michigan.

The XPS machine is a first of its kind device that may save lives by boosting the number of lungs salvaged for transplant. Using the device, lungs are examined, squeezed and tested to make sure they’re working well. The science is “a better story than anything I’d make up,” says Kyle Clark, the cystic fibrosis patient who recently received a lung transplant using the device.