Using cell cultures in laboratory studies, we often do not think about the history of their origin, which is interesting and instructive, and sometimes tragic. In the 50s of the twentieth century, the culture of HeLa cells, which became one of the most famous, suddenly came to big science. These cells were taken from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, who had cervical cancer and died shortly thereafter, and the HeLa cell line turned out to be an indispensable tool for several generations of scientists from all over the world in developing new treatments and biomedical research. The uniqueness of these cells lies in their «immortality», the ability to endlessly divide, unpretentiousness in cultivation and adaptation to conservation conditions, while remaining a simplified imitation of the human body.