Periostin is a matricellular protein that is reactivated during tissue damage and repair and has been shown to be a critical regulator of multiple biological pathways involved in the repair of tissue after myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular disease, and skin wounds. The tissue repair properties attributed to periostin make it an ideal candidate to enhance the therapeutic properties of donor cells such as mesenchymal stem cells from adipocyte tissue. In a recent article in Stem Cell Research & Therapy, Qin et al. demonstrated enhanced therapeutic properties of adipocyte-derived stem cells by genetically engineering them to express periostin.