Main Entry: hela cell

Pronunciation: \ˈhē-lə-\

Function: noun

Usage: often capitalized H & 1st L

: a cell of a continuously cultured strain isolated from a human uterine cervical carcinoma in 1951 and used in biomedical research especially to culture viruses

Lacks \ˈlaks\ , Henrietta (flourished 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 (an acronym 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.