A patent was issued to Professors Martin Yarmush, Francois Berthiaume, Rene Schloss, Tim Maguire, and former BME students Nir Nativ and Gabriel Yarmush, entitled, "In Vitro Model of Macrosteatotic (Fatty) Liver” (US patent number 09709554). The invention describes the development of an in vitro model for macrosteatosis which can be used for identifying compounds for defatting and functional recovery of fatty hepatocytes (liver cells).