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[[File:HEK293FTinvitro.jpg|thumb|293FT cells, a variation of 293 cell]]
HEK 293 cells were generated in 1973 by [[Transformation (genetics)Transfection|transformationtransfection]] of cultures of normal human embryonic kidney cells with sheared [[adenovirus]] 5 [[DNA]] in Alex van der Eb's laboratory in [[Leiden|Leiden, the Netherlands]]. The cells were obtained from a single, apparently healthy, legally aborted fetus under Dutch law; the identity of the parent and the reason for the abortion are unknown.<ref>{{cite web|title=USA FDA CTR For Biologics Evaluation and Research Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting|url=http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/transcripts/3750t1_01.pdf|publisher=USFDA|accessdate=August 11, 2012|author= Alex van der Eb|location=Lines 14–22|page=81}}</ref> The cells were cultured by van der Eb; the transformation by adenovirus was performed by Frank Graham, a [[Postdoctoral research|post-doc]] in van der Eb's lab. They were published in 1977 after Graham left Leiden for [[McMaster University]].<ref name="pmid886304">{{cite journal |vauthors=Graham FL, Smiley J, Russell WC, Nairn R |title=Characteristics of a human cell line transformed by DNA from human adenovirus type 5 |journal=J. Gen. Virol. |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=59–74 |date=July 1977 |pmid=886304 |doi= 10.1099/0022-1317-36-1-59|url=http://vir.sgmjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=886304}}</ref> They are called HEK since they originated in human embryonic kidney cultures, while the number 293 came from Graham's habit of numbering his experiments; the original HEK 293 cell clone was from his 293rd experiment. Graham performed the transformation a total of eight times, obtaining just one clone of cells that were cultured for several months. After presumably adapting to tissue culture, cells from this clone developed into the relatively stable HEK 293 line.
Subsequent analysis has shown that the transformation was brought about by inserting ~4.5 [[kilobase]]s from the left arm of the viral genome, which became incorporated into [[Chromosome 19 (human)|human chromosome 19]].<ref name="pmid9217065">{{cite journal |vauthors=Louis N, Evelegh C, Graham FL |title=Cloning and sequencing of the cellular-viral junctions from the human adenovirus type 5 transformed 293 cell line |journal=Virology |volume=233 |issue=2 |pages=423–9 |date=July 1997 |pmid=9217065 |doi=10.1006/viro.1997.8597 |url=}}</ref>
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