Why is easy bruising so common in older adults? Most bruises form when small blood vessels (capillaries) near the skin's surface are broken by the impact of a blow or injury â often on the arms or legs. When this happens, blood leaks out of the vessels and initially appears as a black-and-blue mark. Eventually your body reabsorbs the blood, and the mark disappears.
HeLa cell. HeLa cell, a cancerous cell belonging to a strain continuously cultured since its isolation in 1951 from a patient suffering from cervical carcinoma. The designation HeLa is derived from the name of the patient, Henrietta Lacks.
Additionally, HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. Scientists have grown an estimated 20 tons of HeLa cells, and there are almost 11,000 patents involving these cells. The HeLa cell lines are known to overtake other cell cultures in laboratory settings and it is estimated that HeLa cells, at one point, contaminated millions of dollars worth of biological research.