Ever wonder what happens to all the fat sucked out during liposuction? If you feared it was going to waste, worry no more. According to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the gelatinous material can be converted into embryonic stem cells . “We’ve identified a great natural resource,” said Stanford surgery professor and co-author of the research, Michael Longaker. The physician also called lipo leftovers “liquid gold.” Changing regular adult stem cells to embryonic stem cells poses a number of problems. Four genes, known as Yamanaka factors, need to be expressed to change adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which mostly resemble embryonic stem cells. Doctors often experiment with skin cells for this procedure. But like some adults, mature cells are resistant to change. It takes skin cells about three weeks in the lab to convert to iPS cells. The Stanford researchers looked at adipose, or immature fat cells, which lie within a labyri...
Blowing your mind away!