A joint Korean-U.S. research team says it has successfully restored the damaged skulls of mice using stem cells taken from human stomach fat.

Plastic surgeon Yoon Eul-sik, who teaches at Korea University, and University of California at Irvine professor Gregory Evans said that the procedure restored 35 to 72 percent of damaged skull tissue in the mice.

Professor Yoon said that the finding may make it possible to use stem cell treatments to create tissue-engineered bone in humans. The research results were published in the 2007 edition of international academic journal Tissue Engineering.