hela cell

He·La cell   (hěl'ə)    n.  Any of the cells of the first continuously cultured human carcinoma strain, originally obtained from cancerous cervical tissue and maintained for use in studying cellular processes. [After He(nrietta) La(cks) who donated such cells in 1951.]

Main Entry: hela cell
Pronunciation: 'hE-l&-
Function: noun
often capitalized H & 1st L : a cell of a continuously cultured strain isolatedfrom a human uterine cervical carcinoma in 1951 and used in biomedical research especially to culture viruses
Lacks /'laks/, Henrietta (fl 1951),American hospital patient. Lacks was a patient with cancer of the cervix. In 1951 Dr. George O. Gey of Johns Hopkins University Medical School isolated cells from her cervical tumor. The hela (anacronym formed from the first two letters of her names, often given as the pseudonym Helen Lane or rarely as Helen Larson) cells still flourish in research laboratories all over the world.

HeLa cell He·La cell (hē'lə)
n.
Any of the cells of the first continuously cultured human carcinoma strain, originally obtained from cancerous cervical tissue and maintained for use in studying cellular processes.