Abstract

Adipose Stem Cells: Potential for Metabolic Reprogramming

Shigeki Sugii, Group Leader/Assistant Professor, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium/Duke NUS Graduate Medical School

Adipose tissue is an expandable and readily attainable source of proliferating, multipotent adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs). There are currently a number of clinical trials worldwide for treatment of a wide range of diseases using ASCs. Subcutaneous and visceral depots differ in their pathophysiological contributions to metabolic homeostasis. This can be attributed to difference in intrinsic properties of ASCs from the two fat depots, but little is known about their molecular identities and mechanisms. Through comprehensive molecular analyses, we have identified various biological differences in human ASCs from subcutaneous and visceral depots. I will discuss the potential of using these molecular signatures for metabolic reprogramming studies: bioimaging, screening for cellular phenotypic switch and improved adipocyte differentiation, or reprogramming into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.