When embryonic stem cells were a highly controversial topic at the beginning of the decade, some companies offered to store fat cells from liposuction for a fee after it was discovered that there were stem cells in the fat, but their practical use had not been established.

CNN: Study: Human fat yields multipurpose stem cells

By using the ultrasonic method, Dr. Victor says he turns the 2 oz. of fat into SVF stem cells of between 0.5 billion and 1.4 billion.

FORBES: Human Body's Fat Seen As best Source of Stem Cells For Regenerative Therapies

Now, the Stanford study has shown fat cells can be a player in the quickly evolving area of iPS stem cell research, not because they have their own stem cells but because the fat cells can be turned into iPS cells.

CNN: Study: Human fat yields multipurpose stem cells

The iPS cells, which have many of the same basic properties, do not raise the same ethical questions as embryonic stem cells because they come from skin or now fat cells that have been reprogrammed to go back in time, so to speak, and have the ability to turn into any other kind of cell in the body.

CNN: Study: Human fat yields multipurpose stem cells

Notable losers in May included BioTime, a regenerative medicine firm run by Michael West, who was one of the key figures in the early days of embryonic stem cell research, and Cytori Therapeutics, which is trying to commercialize stem cells found in fat for breast reconstruction and other uses.

FORBES: Biotech Busts And Breakthroughs In May

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that the millions of fat cells removed during liposuction can be easily and quickly turned into induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, more easily than the skin cells that researchers used when the first iPS cells were created in 2007.

CNN: Study: Human fat yields multipurpose stem cells

Cytori Therapeutics has created a family of medical devices and disposable supplies to extract a cocktail of stem and regenerative cells from a patient's fat and re-inject those cells into the patient during the same surgical procedure.

FORBES