Posted on 09/08/2009 6:09:35 AM PDT by kingattax
In medicine's version of winning the daily double, Stanford University researchers took ordinary fat cells and transformed them into what are effectively embryonic stem cells — those versatile cellular building blocks that can morph into a variety of tissues.
Scientists warn it's too soon to use excess fat to cure disease. But in theory, it would allow people to grow personalized replacement parts for ailing organs. And it avoids the use of embryos, which has embroiled the field in political and ethical debates.
"Thirty to 40 percent of adults in this country are obese," said cardiologist Joseph Wu, senior author of the paper published in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"But all of us have fat in our bodies," he said. "We just need a little bit."
In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University in Japan made a landmark discovery by turning skin cells into embryoniclike stem cells, sending waves of relief through a field that had faced much resistance. Because these cells don't come from embryos, they are called "induced pluripotent stem cells," or IPS cells.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Would stem cells from someone’s own body cells do a better job of whatever needs to be done medically?
Searching for the BIG BOOTY gene.
“...it would allow people to grow personalized replacement parts...”
Oh, the possibilities...
The science behind using "embryonic stem cells" was faulty in the extreme. There were actually folks who argued that our immune systems would not reject ESCs from someone else, nor would the ESCs reject us.
That was all garbage.
Suck out that fat and gimme a new liver. It’s happy hour in fifteen minutes.
just-gross-me-right-the-hell-out-at-breakfast ping
Ewwww.......
But interesting at the same time.
Sweet, now I have a new excuse for my expanding gut.
“I’m storing replacement organs for when I get older.”
Oh, no.
Now what will they do with all those aborted fetuses?
Proof Positive: There IS a God. Who do I call to volunteer for this?????
Spoiled Sport!
EXACTLY what I was thinking!
As a physician who, prior to retirement, was active is MNC collection, I think the only thing wrong with the idea is that I didn’t have it. I would need to critically read the data but this appears brilliant. I used to attend the Transplant Conference is Palo Alto every two years and they truly did a spectacular job.
I don’t understand half of what I’m reading, but what I do understand blows me away.
I think that cloning was always going to be part of the final solution.
[Liposuction leftovers]...and this fat slob ate five pounds of it.
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