Regeneration From Fat Stem Cells
Via Hype and Hope, news of further progress towards regenerative therapies based on the use of adult stem cells from fat (adipose tissue): "This is the first preclinical study in which the injected cells were autologous, meaning they came from the animals' own tissue, were not cultured, so that they did not undergo multiple cell divisions to achieve a target dose of cells, and were harvested and administered on the day of the heart attack. ... Additionally, it shows that a sufficient number of cells could be accessed from adipose tissue in real-time to achieve a therapeutic effect, which closely approximates a clinical setting where timely delivery may be critical." The absence of extra steps, such as culturing, would seem likely to lead to a comparatively low-cost procedure once commercialized.
Link: http://www.hypeandhope.com/wt/page/index/it_1129748357