Stem cells rebuild 7-year-old's skull

[shanek]

I haven't seen anyone else put this up for discussion, so I will:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041217/ap_on_he_me/skull_stem_cells

Surgeons have used stem cells from fat to help repair skull damage in a 7-year-old girl in Germany, in what's apparently the first time such fat-derived cells have been exploited to grow bone in a human.

Cool! Stem cells are already starting to show their usefulness in a practical environment. Of course, the story said this isn't enough to conclude anything, but it's certainly a step.

My question is, how are stem cells made from fat? It seems that most of what the media covers is oh-my-God-stem-cells-come-from-aborted-fetuses-the-horror type of stories. Unfortunately, I don't really see this one getting the attention it deserves, yet. Maybe if more people did, there wouldn't be such a hoo-hah.

So anyway, can stem cells just be made from any old fat cells? Is there an advantage to being able to use cells from the patient instead of a different donor?

 

[Keneke]

We did have that thread a few months back about that company that claimed to be able to "retrodifferentiate" stem cells from normal cells, or at least white blood cells. No further word on that.

From my limited knowledge, I gather that stem cells are present in certain areas of the body, and that they merely need to be separated out and re-inserted in trouble areas.

Stem cells in fat? Maybe there's a high-stem cell count in the young, and fat was easier to get to than bone marrow. Just a guess.