"In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American woman, went to Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital to be treated for cervical cancer. Some of her cancer cells began being used in research due to their unique ability to continuously grow and divide in the laboratory. These so-called “immortal” cells were later named “HeLa” after the first two letters of Henrietta Lacks first and last name." HeLa Cells: A Lasting Contribution to Biomedical Research - Office of Science Policy The site highlights the impacts these cell lines have had in research, and it goes beyond cancer to polio, x-rays, and even space exploration. IIRC, it was on of these lines I learned basic cell culture on in school, and they may have even become a nuisance contamination of other lines.
