George and Margaret Gey spent nearly 30 years trying to find human cells that would grow in a laboratory. In 1951, an assistant established a cell line from a patient named Henrietta Lacks that divided vigorously; these cells were named HeLa cells. Although Henrietta passed away from cervical cancer, her HeLa cells lived on and were used in polio research and continue to be studied worldwide today, contributing to Nobel Prize-winning work.