Local team studies stem cells

The possibilities, they say, are endless.

And an Indiana-based group of doctors and researchers hope to be among the first U.S. companies to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use stem cells for a variety of treatments.

"We're at the beginning of the road," said Dr. Shah Rahimian, president of research and development for Antria on Hospital Road. "If we are not the very first, we are one of the first, the pioneers in the U.S."

Stem cells are the wild card of the cell world. Some grow into specific tissues, but others -- called pleuripotent stem cells -- can grow into anything, such as blood vessels or cartilage.

But their use and study has often been controversial, because often the cells are taken from human embryos.

Antria uses what are called adult stem cells, derived from an adult rather than an embryo.

And they take them from one of the more abundant features of the human body: fat.

"It was always right in front of us, but we never saw it," said Rahimian said. "There is no other tissue that grows so fast."

Rahimian said that previously researchers have looked to take adult stem cells from bone marrow. But the process, he said, results in fewer cells with fewer possibilities.

But there are 300 times as many cells in body fat than in bone marrow, he said. And it doesn't take much to activate them.

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Local team studies stem cells