http://www.cbsnews.com/news/immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-movie-oprah-winfrey-hbo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa
Maybe the best-known names of the twentieth century in the world of science were Einstein, Pauley, Watson and Crick, Jonas Salk, and HeLa. HeLa? Who or what is HeLa?
Tissue cells tend to be very short-lived in attempts to culture. There are a number of factors, one of which is contact inhibition. But, they just can't be free-living and thrive. It makes working with cells very difficult in a long-term study.
But, malignant cells can be free-living cells. In the early fifties, they were able to isolate cervical cancer cells from a woman, Henrietta Lacks, and establish a reservoir of free-living, rapidly-growing cells that still thrives. Over twenty thousand tons, according to some estimates, have been used in experimentation in the past seventy years. The cells have been instrumental in medical research, especially in the realm of polio in which they were used by Jonas Salk. But, they have also been key to understanding of basic cellular activity in pure biological research as we learn more about how cells function.
No institution has been as well known or has been involved in as much critical research as the cell line from this one woman. Every institution probably has some tubes of her cells on hand, and they are now frequently used simply in teaching labs. Everyone has known about HeLa cells for fifty years. But, at first, we didn't exactly know what it stood for. In attempts to retain her privacy, it did spread that the technician who established the line tended to use the initials of the individual from whom she withdrew the cells, in this case, He and La. The word got around that the cells were from a Helen Lang. The truth wasn't really known until much later.
This is a recent movie starring Oprah Winfrey as the daughter of Henrietta Lacks and tells of the problems of the family with the caretakers of Henrietta Lacks. It is something that we should know about since it is so much a part of our lives, whether we knew it or not. The Immortality of Henrietta Lacks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa
Maybe the best-known names of the twentieth century in the world of science were Einstein, Pauley, Watson and Crick, Jonas Salk, and HeLa. HeLa? Who or what is HeLa?
Tissue cells tend to be very short-lived in attempts to culture. There are a number of factors, one of which is contact inhibition. But, they just can't be free-living and thrive. It makes working with cells very difficult in a long-term study.
But, malignant cells can be free-living cells. In the early fifties, they were able to isolate cervical cancer cells from a woman, Henrietta Lacks, and establish a reservoir of free-living, rapidly-growing cells that still thrives. Over twenty thousand tons, according to some estimates, have been used in experimentation in the past seventy years. The cells have been instrumental in medical research, especially in the realm of polio in which they were used by Jonas Salk. But, they have also been key to understanding of basic cellular activity in pure biological research as we learn more about how cells function.
No institution has been as well known or has been involved in as much critical research as the cell line from this one woman. Every institution probably has some tubes of her cells on hand, and they are now frequently used simply in teaching labs. Everyone has known about HeLa cells for fifty years. But, at first, we didn't exactly know what it stood for. In attempts to retain her privacy, it did spread that the technician who established the line tended to use the initials of the individual from whom she withdrew the cells, in this case, He and La. The word got around that the cells were from a Helen Lang. The truth wasn't really known until much later.
This is a recent movie starring Oprah Winfrey as the daughter of Henrietta Lacks and tells of the problems of the family with the caretakers of Henrietta Lacks. It is something that we should know about since it is so much a part of our lives, whether we knew it or not. The Immortality of Henrietta Lacks.
