This was developed from the lung tissue of an aborted Swedish baby girl, of 3 months gestation, around 1964. Her cells were the 44th specimen and she herself was the 38th abortion used. Her tissue was shipped to Leonard Hayflick, of the Wistar Institute, in Philadelphia. WI-44 is used along with WI-26 and 38 to study lifetime of in vitro cell lines.[1]
The designation stands for Wistar Institute, fetal sample 44.