Did you know that HeLa cells are so aggressively viable that they have contaminated other cell lines used in biology and pharmacology and will take over a culture entirely. Both commercially available and lab-grown cell strains are frequently not what they seem. Experts now advise that the DNA of every cell line used in research is tested regularly to ensure it is what it is supposed to be. This problem is a bit of a crisis for much of the tissue research done in recent decades as most labs don’t test the DNA before use, believing what is on the label. This invalidates the results. So, the estimate of 20 tons of HeLa is probably very low.

Here is just one paper on the subject: http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc4126216

That Pat who doesn’t use Tumblr again.

interesting