Autologous fat grafting (AFG) is a minimally invasive plastic surgery technique performed over one million times yearly where a patient’s own fat tissue is used to repair or enhance different areas of their body. AFG involves fat extraction via liposuction, purification, and syringe-mediated rejection. Despite autologous fat’s 100% biocompatibility, the patient’s volume retention at the grafted site is highly variable, hinging on the health and regenerative ability of the transplanted fat cells, and the effective removal of contaminants such as oil, blood, and excess fluids. These factors are often compromised during manual lipoaspirate processing, leading to poor patient satisfaction and the need for subsequent corrective procedures. Thus, plastic surgeons need an autologous fat harvesting method that selectively gathers lipoaspirate while preserving its regenerative properties in order to maintain adipocyte viability. We propose a novel AFG system that is automated, reusable, and easy-to-use, designed to consistently produce high-quality fat for grafting.

Team Members

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Project Mentors, Sponsors, and Partners

• Hooman Soltanian, MD, FACS

• Michele Manahan, MD

• Salih Colakoglu, MD

• Warren Grayson, PhD

• Evangelia Bellas, PhD

• Jeffrey Gimble, MD, PhD

• Sashank Reddy, MD, PhD

• Luke Boyce

Course Faculty

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Additional Project Information