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.
Before her death, a sample of cervical cells was taken from Lacks, which became the immortalized cell line known as HeLa cells4. HeLa was the name given to the human tissue cell culture that was able to thrive in a glass-bound container in the laboratory, given the proper nutrients for cell growth5.