Much research is being done to determine the viability of using stem cells from a patient's own fat to regenerate injured bone or cancer-damaged breast tissue. Some cosmetic surgeons claim to already be using fat stem cells to reduce wrinkles, but the machine used to make the stem cell-enriched fat is approved only for research purposes. "It's unlikely that these cells will cause harm [and] there are really great applications that can come out of this, but we need to be careful and deliberate in how we use these therapies," says Dr. Peter Rubin, associate professor of plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. ABC News (4/5)
