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The HeLa cell line
Henrietta Lacks
Immortality
Dr. George Gey establishes the HeLa cell line at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. HeLa is a continuous (immortal) line of human cervical carcinoma cells that has become a standard and indispensable tool in biomedical research. The original cells in the line were harvested from a woman named Henrietta Lacks who died from the disease in 1951. Lacks’ permission was not requested prior to culturing the cells – nor was it, at the time, required.
HeLa cells stained with colored dyes
Henrietta Lacks, the woman behind the "immortal" cells
HeLa cells