Henrietta Lacks (sometimes erroneously called Henrietta Lakes, Helen Lane or Helen Larson) was an African-American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 woman who was the unwitting source of cells from her cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

ous tumor

Tumor

A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...

, which were culture

Microbiological culture

A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are used to determine the type of organism, its abundance in the sample being tested,...

d by George Otto Gey

George Otto Gey

George Otto Gey was the scientist who propagated the HeLa cell line.-Biography:Gey was born in Pennsylvania, and both his parents were born in Germany. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1921 and then taught zoology there. Around 1926 he married Margaret K. ,...

 to create an immortal cell line for medical research. This is now known as the HeLa

HeLa

A HeLa cell is a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who eventually died of her cancer on October 4, 1951...

 cell line.
Henrietta Lacks, born Loretta Pleasant, on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

, to Eliza (1886–1924) and John Randall Pleasant I (1881–1969).