Top Highlights

• HeLa cells are the first immortal human cell line. The cell line grew from a sample of cervical cancer cells taken from an African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks on February 8, 1951.
• Normally, human cell cultures die within a few days after a set number of cell divisions via a process called senescence. This presents a problem for researchers because experiments using normal cells cannot be repeated on identical cells (clones), nor can the same cells be used for extended study. Cell biologist George Otto Gey took one cell from ...
• Researchers believe the reason HeLa cells don't suffer programmed death is because they maintain a version of the enzyme telomerase that prevents gradual shortening of the telomeres of chromosomes. Telomere shortening is implicated in aging and death

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