The problem was that single plasma cells were not immortal. They would grow for a few days, then struggle to stay alive, and finally shrivel and die. Milstein, working with the German cell biologist Georges Köhler, came up with a solution that was as brilliant as it was unorthodox: using a virus that could glue cells together, they fused the B cell with a cancer cell. I am still awestruck by the idea. How did they even think of using the undead to resuscitate the dying? The result was one of the strangest cells in biology. The plasma cell retained its antibody-secreting property, while the
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