Vero cells. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM). Vero cells are a lineage of cells used in cell cultures. The 'Vero' lineage was isolated from kidney epithelial cells extracted from an African green monkey. In research Vero cells are used for many purposes, including as host cells for growing viruses; for example, to measure replication in the presence or absence of a research pharmaceutical, the testing for the presence of rabies virus, or the growth of viral stocks for research purposes. Magnification x 6000 at 10cm wide. Specimen courtesy of Greg Towers, UCL