Henrietta Lacks' cells, known as HeLa cells, were recovered in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a biopsy of her aggressive cervical cancer tumor, which were then cultivated by scientist George Gey and shared around the world without her family's consent. Gey was able to keep the HeLa cells alive and continuously multiplying in culture, a medical breakthrough at the time, and the cells were then mass produced and distributed to researchers globally, becoming the first immortal human cell line and a critical tool for scientific research. Researchers at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia took the lead in storing and distributing HeLa cells to other