Polio Vaccine

Wellcome Polio vaccine dropped on to sugar lump for child patient (Credit: Wellcome Collection)

In 1953 scientists discovered that HeLa cells could be used to grow large quantities of the polio virus, making it possible to study how the virus grows, replicates and causes disease. This work was vital to the eventual development of the polio vaccine.

You can access the full journal paper for this study here.