HeLa cell

American  

[hel-uh] / ˈhɛl ə /

Or Hela cell,

noun

Biology.

1. a vigorous strain of laboratory-cultured cells descended from a human cervical cancer, used widely in research.

---

Etymology

Origin of HeLa cell

After He(nrietta) La(cks) , a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, from whom the tissue was taken in 1951 prior to her death

Example Sentences

They were known as the HeLa cell line, and they had been used to develop the polio vaccine, treatments for H.I.V. and other landmark medical advances.

From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2023

While acknowledging an ethical responsibility, it said the medical system “has never sold or profited from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells and does not own the rights to the HeLa cell line.”

From Washington Times • Aug. 1, 2023

Johns Hopkins Medicine has said that it “has never sold or profited from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells and does not own the rights to the HeLa cell line.”

From Washington Post • Oct. 13, 2021

The HeLa cell line — a name derived from the first two letters of Henrietta Lacks’ first and last names — was a scientific breakthrough.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 13, 2021

A few months after Gey’s death, Howard Jones and several Hopkins colleagues—including Victor McKusick, a leading geneticist—decided to write an article about the history of the HeLa cell line as a tribute to Gey’s career.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot