Artificial fat aids skin replacement.

Mention the term "artificial fat" and people think of the substitutes in ice cream and other foods marketed to a diet-conscious nation obsessed with shedding weight. That is not the kind of artificial fat being developed by Nancy Parenteau, director of cell biology research at Organogenesis, Inc., a biotechnology company located in Canton, Mass., and head of their Skin Equivalent Program, which has pioneered efforts to develop replacements for natural tissues in the body. "A lot of people may not think it's a good idea, but we want to put fat back on the body. It's artificial fat tissue, a soft-tissue replacement that could be used in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, treating severe burns, and other conditions."

Perhaps the best known of these is Graftskin, one of several cultured skin replacements being developed and tested. Entire sheets of cultured skin "equivalents" can be grown - typically from cells obtained from human foreskins taken from circumcisions. Graftskin is in clinical trials at a number of medical centers for use in speeding healing of skin ulcers in patients with...