HeLa

A HeLa cell /ˈhiːlɑː/, also Hela or hela cell, is a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who died of her cancer on October 4, 1951. The cell line was found to be remarkably durable and prolific — which has led to it contaminating many other cell lines used in research.

The cells from Lacks' tumor were taken without her knowledge or consent by researcher George Gey, who found that they could be kept alive. Before this, cells cultured from other cells would only survive for a few days. Scientists spent more time trying to keep the cells alive than performing actual research on them, but some cells from Lacks' tumor sample behaved differently from others. George Gey was able to isolate one specific cell, multiply it, and start a cell line. Grey named the sample HeLa, after the initial letters of Henrietta Lacks' name. They were the first human cells grown in a lab that were "immortal," meaning that they do not die after a few cell divisions, and they could be used for conducting many experiments. This represented an enormous boon to medical and biological research.