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It is common knowledge that stem cells, including adult stem cells, can be used to create any other type of cell from the individual it comes from. There are many examples going back decades of stem cells being used to replace tissues that have been damaged or never fully formed:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stem-cells-used-to-grow-bone/

https://www.regenerativeorthopedicinstitute.com/using-stem-cells-grow-bone/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stem-cells-bone-growth/

https://www.aao.org/editors-choice/stem-cells-regrow-human-lens-corneal-https://www.aao.org/editors-choice/stem-cells-regrow-human-lens-corneal-tissue#:~:text=Scientists%20have%20shown%20that%20human%20cells%20can%20be,week%20in%20Nature%2C%20were%20likened%20to%20science%20fiction.

https://www.informationnigeria.com/2014/04/scientists-grow-body-parts-using-stem-cells-in-north-london-hospital.html

I have banked my stem cells and would like to be able to

  1. use them to grow tissues like fat and bone
  2. have these tissue implanted

How does one get started in doing this and why is this not at all common to find as a service?

I have asked several surgeons, and they can't do this. It seems like the safest, most natural way to repair and enhance oneself surgically because you are using your own building blocks, and it has been done before. However, I haven't found a single surgeon that does this. I have also found no instances of attempts to grow fat from stem cells--just harvesting stem cells from fat or using stem cells to stimulate growth, which is not the same thing.

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    "How does one get started in doing this and why is this not at all common to find as a service" - Because no one has done this yet on a large scale, only some preliminary experimenting. You can't really have a service for something for which the technology doesn't exist.
    – Bryan Krause
    Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 21:40
  • If you wish to discuss moderation here, the place to do that is in meta, not by adding editorial comments to your question. Your previous question(s) weren't closed or downvoted because you're new. That's a weird suggestion. They were closed for the reasons given in the close notice at the time. You could have simply edited them to be compliant with site rules and they would have been reopened.
    – Carey Gregory
    Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 21:57
  • @CareyGregory I don't think it's a weird suggestion at all. Having an elitist culture and unhelpful treatment of new users on Stack Exchange sites is a widely known issue and there are other questions and articles addressing it. I'd rather not single out Medical Sciences on Meta, but I won't press the issue here. My impression looking around on this site is there are a number of good questions that get snubbed.
    – anon
    Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 22:30
  • @BryanKrause Clearly the technology does exist if you look at any of the links. That is the point of my question.
    – anon
    Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 22:32
  • @BryanKrause There is in fact a doctor in India who regularly does stem cell grafts to repair people's vision. This technology has been around decades, and I've seen many examples. Your level of insight and knowledge about this doesn't seem to warrant your comment, but thank you for proving my point that there is somewhat of a hostile, dismissive culture here.
    – anon
    Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 22:45

1 Answer 1

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I am not sure if I understood your question correctly and also this is not my main field of knowledge, even though let me try to make my contribution with this (not final) answer.

Stem cells can be categorized into several groups depending on their ability to differentiate:

Totipotent: can differentiate into all cell types;

Pluripotent: can differentiate into almost all cell types;

Multipotent: can differentiate into a related family of cell types;

Oligopotent: can differentiate into a few different cells;

Unipotent: can produce one cell type only.

Once you have a culture of stem cells those are stimulated to differentiate

As long as the pluripotent stem cells are grown in culture under appropriate conditions, they can remain undifferentiated. To generate cultures of specific types of differentiated cells, scientists may change the chemical composition of the culture medium, alter the surface of the culture dish, or modify the cells by forcing the expression of specific genes. Through years of experimentation, scientists have established some basic protocols, or “recipes,” for the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into some specific cell types article

Stem cell differentiation is tightly regulated by signaling pathways and modifications in gene expression. The major chemical or physical signals include: Growth Factors; Cell Culture Substrate; Co-culture Environments; Signal Inhibition; and epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling.

"How does one get started in doing this"

To be useful for transplant purposes, stem cells must be reproducibly made to: Proliferate extensively and generate sufficient quantities of cells for replacing lost or damaged tissues; Differentiate into the desired cell type(s); Survive in the recipient after transplant; Integrate into the surrounding tissue after transplant; Avoid rejection by the recipient’s immune system; Function appropriately for the duration of the recipient’s life. article

on the same article there is a note that could be a partial answer to your second question: "why is this not at all common to find as a service"

Currently, the only stem cell-based products that are approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the United States consist of blood-forming stem cells (hematopoietic progenitor cells) derived from cord blood. These products are approved for limited use in patients with disorders that affect the body system that is involved in the production of blood (called the “hematopoietic” system).

and there is another FDA disclaimer about this subject website

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  • This is a thoughtful answer, and I appreciate the effort. The info you provided is probably more on-topic for the first part of my question than what I intended, which was more to do with understanding who, if anyone, is doing this, and how to start conversing with them if interested in treatment. Experimental labs, research centers, doctors? I could try reaching out to surgeons in news articles from ages ago. But this info does help to better understand what questions to ask, the risks, and politics involved.
    – anon
    Commented Jul 29, 2020 at 3:06

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