Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A strain of cells derived from a tumor of Henrietta Lacks.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Cells of this line are called HeLa cells because their original source was a tumor removed from a woman named Henrietta Lacks.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Taken from Lacks without her knowledge as she underwent surgery for the cervical cancer which killed her at the age of 31, her tumor cells became known as HeLa, after the first two letters of each of her names.

    Reuters: Top News 2010

  • Scientists working with her cell cultures, known as HeLa cells, have developed cancer treatments, vaccines, and in-vitro fertilization and cloning technology.

    An Unwitting Heroine of Science Alexandra Alter 2010

  • While the world has heard about, and benefited exponentially from the cells, dubbed HeLa, the story of this woman has remained untold.

    The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Inequity and Cervical Cancer « Gender Across Borders 2010

  • Scientists working with her cell cultures, known as HeLa cells, have developed cancer treatments, vaccines, and in-vitro fertilization and cloning technology.

    An Unwitting Heroine of Science Alexandra Alter 2010

  • Based on the differences between the expression of regulatory RNAs, they identified a half-dozen regulatory RNAs that created a distinct fingerprint in one specific cancer cell line called HeLa.

    Ars Technica John Timmer 2011

  • She's simply called HeLa, the code name given to the world's first immortal human cells

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Scientists had been struggling in vain to grow human cells in the laboratory for years, and Lacks 'cells, which would come to be known as HeLa -- a combination of her first and last names -- grew everywhere.

    Memphis Commercial Appeal Stories 2010

  • Scientists had been struggling in vain to grow human cells in the laboratory for years, and Lacks 'cells, which would come to be known as HeLa -- a combination of her first and last names -- grew everywhere.

    Memphis Commercial Appeal Stories 2010

  • Scientists had been struggling in vain to grow human cells in the laboratory for years, and Lacks 'cells, which would come to be known as HeLa -- a combination of her first and last names -- grew everywhere.

    Memphis Commercial Appeal Stories 2010

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