FlaGator
09-08-2009, 03:12 PM
Though the scientists say it’s too soon to use excess fat to cure diseases, it could, in theory, allow people to grow personalized replacement parts for ailing organs as many stem cell researchers are seeking to do.
"Imagine if we could isolate fat cells from a patient with some type of congenital cardiac disease," said cardiologist Joseph Wu, senior author of the paper published in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We could then differentiate them into cardiac cells, study how they respond to different drugs or stimuli and see how they compare to normal cells. This would be a great advance," he reported, according to the Stanford University Medical Center.
Furthermore, because the "induced pluripotent stem cells" don’t come from embryos, their utilization would sidestep the controversy that surrounds embryonic stem cell research, which requires the destruction of human embryos.
"There's an abundance of fat cells in this country," Wu told the San Jose Mercury News.
Nice story. Read it all here (http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090908/stanford-researchers-transform-fat-cells-into-stem-cells/index.html)
"Imagine if we could isolate fat cells from a patient with some type of congenital cardiac disease," said cardiologist Joseph Wu, senior author of the paper published in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We could then differentiate them into cardiac cells, study how they respond to different drugs or stimuli and see how they compare to normal cells. This would be a great advance," he reported, according to the Stanford University Medical Center.
Furthermore, because the "induced pluripotent stem cells" don’t come from embryos, their utilization would sidestep the controversy that surrounds embryonic stem cell research, which requires the destruction of human embryos.
"There's an abundance of fat cells in this country," Wu told the San Jose Mercury News.
Nice story. Read it all here (http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090908/stanford-researchers-transform-fat-cells-into-stem-cells/index.html)