HeLa Cells — The Immortal Cell Line

In 1951, doctors at Johns Hopkins took cervical cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks — a Black woman in Baltimore — without her knowledge or consent. Those cells, labeled HeLa, became the first immortal human cell line: they divide indefinitely in a lab and are still alive today. HeLa cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, cancer treatments, and COVID vaccines. Over 110,000 scientific papers cite them. Lacks' family didn't know her cells existed until 1975 and received no compensation for decades. The science is miraculous. The ethics are a stain.