HeLa cells

HeLa cells

 HeLa cells are human epithelial cells obtained from cervical cancer cells maintained in tissue culture since 1951 when they were first grown, in a laboratory and were the first type of human cancer cell to be grown continuously for experiments. They were named after a cancer patient, Henrietta Lacks, the cells were taken from her tissue samples and grown by Dr. George Gey who realized that some of Henrietta Lacks' cells were different from 
normal cells.   

Cell lines have various purposes, such as studying the effects of diseases or developing medications and vaccines. Cell lines are often named after the people from whom they were originally taken from, HeLa for example comes from the first two letters of Henrietta Lacks name who was the patient they got the cells from. Basically its a line of cells that is taken from a person and used for scientific research.

 In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, made one of the greatest medical contributions.  The cells, taken from her cervical cancer biopsy, and became the first immortal human cell line. HeLa cells are an indestructible, continuously growing cell line of human cancer cells. Normal body cells would die however, HeLa cells continue to survive indefinitely in laboratories, something that has allowed them to assume huge importance in biomedical research. Since the mid-20 century, the cells have been distributed around the world and are used in many medical endeavors, including research into the nature of cancer, the development of vaccines, the mapping of genes, the treatment of diseases, and the mechanisms involved with programmed cell death. 

http://bigpictureeducation.com/quick-guide-hela-cells 

http://www.accessscience.com/content/importance-of-hela-cells/BR0826141