HeLa cell

or He·la cell, he·la cell

[ hel-uh ]
/ ˈhɛl ə /

noun Biology.

a vigorous strain of laboratory-cultured cells descended from a human cervical cancer, used widely in research.

Origin of HeLa cell

after He(nrietta) La(cks), a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, from whom the tissue was taken in 1951 prior to her death

Medical definitions for hela cell

HeLa cell
[ hē′lə ]

n.

Any of the cells of the first continuously cultured human carcinoma strain, originally obtained from cancerous cervical tissue and maintained for use in studying cellular processes.