There is an article over at Wired
News about how some researchers have
discovered a way to convert human fat cells
into human cartilage. This might be great
for all of us weight lifters that have
developed cartilage/joint probs over the
years. The article is here:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,42052,00.html
In the very near future, probably within two to three years, you are going to see a lot of tissue engineering being performed on humans. The work on fat cells is interesting, but the stuff being done with muscle satellite cells is really cool. At a scientific meeting over the winter, there were several groups using satellite cells to introduce exogenous genes into adult mouse muscle. I would expect that within a few more years, 5-10, gene therapy and tissue therapy clinics will be as common as the longevity/GH clinics now. It’s a brave new world.