Cytobiology

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a...Read Full Story

Author : Rebecca Skloot Total Page : 384 Publisher : Crown Publication Date : 2010 02 02 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks >> Fascinating Story Wow This book tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks and her family s attempts at understanding how her cells have impacted science It is part medical research history part human interest and part science lesson Civil rights and patient s medical rights are also woven in throughout the book I was impressed that the author was able to balance the...Read Full Story

Wow. This book should be required reading for scientists and students of life. The true story of Henrietta Lacks and her family has finally been told, beautifully, in this book. The book encompasses science, ethics, and the story of a family who was terribly wronged in the pursuit of scientific research. I could gush about this book for pages but I'll try first to hit the main points of why this book is so remarkable in list form for the sake of brevity:1. The author clearly developed a...Read Full Story

Henrietta Lacks. Does the name ring a bell? Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of her, its not surprising. In the U.S., many of us are used to the blanket of white supremacy covering the most valued of contributions made by Black people, whether those contributions are voluntary or involuntary as in the case of Henrietta Lacks. So let me try again. Have you heard of the polio vaccine? I know that you have, but not heard of Henrietta Lacks who’s cells actually formed the basis for Jonas...Read Full Story

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cellsโ€”taken without her knowledgeโ€”became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first โ€�immortalโ€� human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale...Read Full Story

Interesting article in the New York Times  about Henrietta Lacks and implications for "tissue rights" almost 60 years later. "Fifty years after Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in the “colored” ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital, her daughter finally got a chance to see the legacy she had unknowingly left to science. A researcher in a lab at Hopkins swung open a freezer door and showed the daughter, Deborah Lacks-Pullum, thousands of vials, each holding millions of cells descended from a...Read Full Story

. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a...Read Full Story

This one just in time for Black History Month...how a Black woman has been 'used' for years in medical research and has been identified as an 'immortal'...according to a new book. The story comes from Smithsonian.com... *********************************************** Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine By Sarah Zielinski Smithsonian.com, January 22, 2010...Read Full Story

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a...Read Full Story

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot 6 days in the top 100 (18) Release Date: February 2, 2010 Buy new: $14.04 (Ranking is updated hourly. Visit the Bestsellers in History list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.) Review & Description Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most...Read Full Story