HeLa cells

Hela Cells are the first human cell line maintained in a laboratory. They were derived from cervical cancer cells obtained from cancer patient Henrietta Lacks. They were taken without permission and were delivered to a George Gey, the then head of the cell culture laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was successful in cultivating and propagating the cell line. Most notably, these cells were used in the development of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine.