Scientists have successfully turned human fat into stem cells using leftovers from liposuction patients. This method has proved to be more efficient than the previously used skin cells.

The controversy linked to the use of stem cells from human embryos may now be avoided following this discovery.

Stanford University plastic surgeon Michael Longaker, whose liposuction patients donated the fat for the study said that human fat is a renewable and abundant resource for this purpose.

He says that there is even a possibility of using fat to grow new tissues and organs in the lab. There is enough fat even in people with a fit body for this purpose.

These cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, can be reprogrammed and turned into most types of cells in the body. Previous researchers even showed that they could obtain these types of cells from ordinary skin cells.

For the creation of stem cells the scientists injected Trojan horse-like viruses into smooth muscle cells found in fat that surrounds blood vessels. There the viruses introduced genes that reprogrammed the cells, making them to grow into newer forms.

Stem cells are the basis of the body's cellular system and embryonic stem cells are the most malleable than can take the form of any cell type.