Imagine buckets of liposuctioned fats from cosmetic surgery clinics.

Those fats can actually be a source of stem cells that regenerate tissues - which can potentially be used to repair defects and heal injuries in the body.

That's according to a research team Led by Philippe Collas at the University of Oslo in Norway which has identified certain chemical markers that predict which stem cells in liposuctioned fat are best at regenerating tissue.

The findings were reported by Dr. Collas at the EuroSTELLS Workshop 'Exploring Chromatin in Stem Cells' (a pdf file) held January 23-24, in Montpellier, France - with high hopes that transplanted fat stem cells will restore injured sports horses to their former glory.

Find more details from the full report.

[Photo Credit: How Stuff Works]