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To a cell biologist, they’re everywhere, an integral part of lab life. Used willy-nilly for all sorts of experiments. Poked, prodded, manipulated—and eventually autoclaved, incinerated or bleached.

[pullquote]HeLa cells are the ‘anti-cell'[/pullquote]

HeLa cells are ubiquitous. They are fast-growing and easy to care for (and difficult for careless grad students to kill): possibly not the most appropriate experimental model (a scientist of my acquaintance once told me that HeLa cells are the ‘anti-cell’) but certainly the most common; these little engines of science sit quietly in their pinky-red life-supporting soup, immortal scions of an obscure tobacco farmer. But I would wager that many nascent cell biologists (and not a few fully-fledged ones) don’t realize whence came HeLa cells. The first time I considered their origin was, many years ago, when somebody mentioned the name ‘Helen Lane’.

It is fitting that the true, human story should win the Wellcome Trust’s 2010 book prize earlier this week. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot “tells the story of a poor Southern tobacco farmer whose cancer cells, taken without her knowledge, became one of the most important tools in medicine.”

I first came across Skloot on twitter: back in January she tweeted

FINISHED BOOK!! #HeLa https://ow.ly/i/io0ou

and it’s been amazing watching her progress, and the response of the scientific community (and beyond) on twitter. You can read more at the Welcome Blog and there’s an interview with Skloot at New Scientist. It’s also going to be made into a film, which must surely be the dream of any author.

Congratulations, Rebecca!