One woman's cancer cells have been dividing in labs for 70+ years

In 1951, cells taken from Henrietta Lacks's cervical tumour without her knowledge or consent turned out to do something no human cells had done before in culture: keep dividing indefinitely. Named HeLa, they became the first immortal human cell line and have since been used in polio vaccine development, cancer research and genetics — all while her family went uncompensated and uninformed for decades.

— Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks — 2010
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