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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This book delves into the life and legacy of Henrietta Lacks, focusing on the ethical implications and medical breakthroughs resulting from the use of her cells. more

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Rebecca Skloot
Rebecca Skloot

Rebecca Skloot is a freelance writer recognized for her contributions to science and medicine through her compelling storytelling and investigative journalism. Born in September 1972, she has made a significant impact in the field by focusing on the human aspect of scientific research. Skloot's writing often delves into the lives of individuals involved in significant scientific studies, bringing to light the personal stories behind groundbreaking research. more

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“Nelson-Rees had since been hired by the National Cancer Institute to help stop the contamination problem. He would become known as a vigilante who published “HeLa Hit Lists” in Science, listing any contaminated lines he found, along with the names of researchers who’d given him the cells. He didn’t warn researchers when he found that their cells had been contaminated with HeLa; he just published their names, the equivalent of having a scarlet H pasted on your lab door.”

Medical ResearchHelaHenrietta LacksCulture ContaminationHela Hit ListNelson Rees
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“The American Type Culture Collection—a nonprofit whose funds go mainly toward maintaining and providing pure cultures for science—has been selling HeLa since the sixties. When this book went to press, their price per vial was $256. The ATCC won’t reveal how much money it brings in from HeLa sales each year, but since HeLa is one of the most popular cell lines in the world, that number is surely significant.”

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“Day wouldn’t have understood the concept of immortal cells or HLA markers coming from anyone, accent or not—he’d only gone to school for four years of his life, and he’d never studied science. The only kind of cell he’d heard of was the kind Zakariyya was living in out at Hagerstown. So he did what he’d always done when he didn’t understand something a doctor said: he nodded and said yes.”

EducationHelaHenrietta LacksHuman CellsDay LacksMedical Disclosure
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“Everyone in the audience knew what that meant. On top of saying they’d possibly wasted more than a decade and millions of research dollars, Gartler was also suggesting that spontaneous transformation—one of the most celebrated prospects for finding a cure for cancer—might not exist. Normal cells didn’t spontaneously become cancerous, he said; they were simply taken over by HeLa.”

HelaHenrietta LacksHuman CellsAtccCulture ContaminationGenetic MarkerStanley Gartler
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“Ultimately the judge threw Moore’s suit out of court, saying he had no case. Ironically, in his decision, the judge cited the HeLa cell line as a precedent for what happened with the Mo cell line. The fact that no one had sued over the growth or ownership of the HeLa cell line, he said, illustrated that patients didn’t mind when doctors took their cells and turned them into commercial products. The judge believed Moore was unusual in his objections. But in fact, he was simply the first to realize there was something potentially objectionable going on.”

PatentsMedical ResearchSpleenHelaHenrietta LacksHuman CellsCell LinesJohn MooreCell DonorsDavid Golde
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“Soon after Harris’s HeLa-chicken study, a pair of researchers at New York University discovered that human-mouse hybrids lost their human chromosomes over time, leaving only the mouse chromosomes. This allowed scientists to begin mapping human genes to specific chromosomes by tracking the order in which genetic traits vanished. If a chromosome disappeared and production of a certain enzyme stopped, researchers knew the gene for that enzyme must be on the most recently vanished chromosome. Scientists in laboratories throughout North America and Europe began fusing cells and using them to map genetic traits to specific chromosomes, creating a precursor to the human genome map we have today.”

GeneticsMedical ResearchChromosomesHelaHenrietta LacksHuman Genome
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“Also a fan of being inscrutable, Franco once said, 'You are a the slave of what you say and the master of what you don't say.' He might have added that that approach isn't always guaranteed to work. If you attempt, for example, to be sphinx-like, mysterious and enigmatic when you get to the front of a long queue at the chip shop, you do risk being punched quite hard in the back of the head.”

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“La vida oficial és un fàstic. La dictadura tot ho contamina, i quan algú mínimament neutral o moderadament refractari al Règim arriba a ostentar un càrrec oficial, la butaca li infecta els baixos amb els seus efluvis pestilents, que li amaren els glutis i penetren pel forat del cul per anar-se apoderant del seu cos i de la seva ànima, per dintre i per fora. Viure a l'Espanya de Franco és com tenir cagarrines, pare paret. No saps mai quan hauràs de córrer.”

Franco
Book:Plans de futur
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