HeLa immortal cell line
Línea celular inmortal HeLa
- Date
- 1951 · confidence high
- Place
- Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, United States
- Credited to
- George Gey (culture); cells of Henrietta Lacks
- People
- 👤 George Otto Gey1899–1970
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The first human cells able to divide indefinitely in culture, taken from a cervical tumour without consent. They made it possible to culture the polio virus and thousands of studies.
The case of Henrietta Lacks became a reference point for bioethics and informed consent.
What it led to
- Salk's polio vaccine
- cell culture as a standard tool
- the ethical debate over consent and human tissue
- discovery of HPV as a cause of cervical cancer
Built on
- tissue culture (Harrison, Carrel)
Made possible
- Polio vaccine (Salk and Sabin)1955
- CHO cells, a biopharmaceutical platform (Activase, 1987)1957-1987
- scaled-up cell culture
- in vitro drug screening