In the pages of “A Conspiracy of Cells” that were available to us, there were several differences in both writing style and content, compared to Skloot’s, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” One of the biggest differences is in Michael Gold’s, “A Conspiracy of Cells,” he focuses more on the Hela cells and the research, while in Skloot’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” Skloot focuses more on the Lacks family. In “A Conspiracy of Cells,” Gold focuses his writing about cancer research and “The War on Cancer.” He talks about chromosomes and how researchers thought it was strange that they were all female (lacking the Y-chromosome) and all the cells contained the same rare enzyme typically found in African Americans. Once Gold started
Despite the fact that her cells are regarded as, “one of the most important advancements in the last hundred years” (4), little is actually known about the woman behind the cells. Skloot sets out on a mission to change this fact and share the story of the woman from whom the cells originate and her family as they deal with the effects these cells have on them. At this point in the book, readers learn about just how far the HeLa cells are traveling in the name of research. George Gey, the man who first grows Lacks’ cells in his laboratory, brings the HeLa cells with him on a television show to talk about the advancements in cancer research that are possible by studying cells. After his appearance on television, he makes it his goal to send HeLa cells to anyone is willing to experiment with them for cancer studies.
From the persistent phone calls phone calls explaining her intentions to the accurate portrayal that the family so desperately wanted for Henrietta. Skloot dismantles the idea that Henrietta and her family were nothing but abstractions that did not have a place in the media or scientific community and builds on the fact that HeLa cells once belonged to a human being. That human being was a beautiful woman with “... walnut eyes, straight white teeth, and full lips… She kept her nails short so bread dough wouldn’t stick under them when she kneaded it, but she always painted them a deep red to match her toenails.”
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta Lacks. In the early 1951 Henrietta discovered a hard lump on the left of the entrance of her cervix, after having unexpected vaginal bleeding. She visited the Johns Hopkins hospital in East Baltimore, which was the only hospital in their area where black patients were treated. The gynecologist, Howard Jones, indeed discovers a tumor on her cervix, which he takes a biopsy off to sent it to the lab for diagnosis. In February 1951 Henrietta was called by Dr. Jones to tell about the biopsy results: “Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I”, in other words, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Before her first radium treatment, surgeon dr. Wharton removed a sample of her cervix tumor and a sample of her healthy cervix tissue and gave this tissue to dr. George Gey, who had been trying to grow cells in his lab for years. In the meantime that Henrietta was recovering from her first treatment with radium, her cells were growing in George Gey’s lab. This all happened without the permission and the informing of Henrietta Lacks. The cells started growing in a unbelievable fast way, they doubled every 24 hours, Henrietta’s cells didn’t seem to stop growing. Henrietta’s cancer cell grew twenty times as fast as her normal healthy cells, which eventually also died a couple of days after they started growing. The first immortal human cells were grown, which was a big breakthrough in science. The HeLa cells were spread throughout the scientific world. They were used for major breakthroughs in science, for example the developing of the polio vaccine. The HeLa-cells caused a revolution in the scientific world, while Henrietta Lacks, who died Octob...
Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.
This Radiolab podcast talks about how the HIV/AIDS epidemic started: the ultimate patient zero story, a very recent event that still hurts and still bleeds.
His piece, however, honored Lacks and explicitly mentioned that no one asked for her or her family’s permission to take her cells, stating that “without … permission … , doctors at Johns Hopkins had collected and saved samples of tissue from her cancerous tumor”. Though both political figures with no personal ties to Henrietta Lacks or her family, it is clear that Hon. Perriello and Hon. Ehrlich had different understandings of the situation and Lacks’ role in it, as made evident by their explanation of it. Once more, it is proven not only that Lacks’ privacy was taken from her when her cells were passed around without her consent, but diction plays a highly significant role in recreating
Henrietta’s cells were being inaugurated with space travel, infused into rat cells, and even being used to make infertile hens fertile again. However, these are only a few of the many accomplishments that Henrietta’s immortal cells made possible: “The National Cancer Institute was using various cells, including HeLa, to screen more than thirty thousand chemicals and plant extracts, which would yield several of today’s most widely used and effective chemotherapy drugs, including Vincristine and Taxol,”(pg.139). This example of logos from the text again shows just how important these Henrietta’s cells were to the future developments in
It was her cells that became what is known as HELA cells or immortal cells. Her story is interesting to me because of her impact on the science community. Her cells allowed scientist to perform
...iteracy and the Death of the Narrative in Hawthorne's 'The Birthmark'." ATQ 9.4 (1995): 269-82.
Henrietta Lacks was completely unaware when doctors from John Hopkins Hospital extracted cells from her cervix. She was completely unaware that they would soon be grown in culture and multiply to eventually weigh over three hundred million metric tons. Even after Henrietta’s gruesome, tumor-filled death, these cells appeared immortal, and helped doctors treat countless diseases such as polio and influenza. These HeLa cells were said to be “‘one of the most important things that happened to medicine in the last hundred years,’” yet the woman from which they came remained nameless and virtually unknown for several decades.
Skloot first heard about Henrietta almost thirty years ago, as she explains that she “was sixteen and sitting in a community college biology class” (8). Although Henrietta’s immediate relatives were hesitant to speak with outsiders, Skloot was very stubborn to let the world know the Lacks family’s story. Not every author would wait years for an interview, yet the content and research in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was carefully constructed over nearly a decade. While Skloot’s research is very thorough, however, the accuracy of her sources can sometimes be questionable. A primary source of information that is used throughout the book comes from an old man named Cootie. He is quoted as he mutters “‘I know I got some information on Henrietta in here somewhere,’ … from under the mattress” (Skloot 62). However, referencing Cootie only leaves a minor blemish on Skloot’s otherwise detailed research and does not heavily detract from the content of the
In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, the author highlights the scientific advances of HeLa cells, as well as the personal setbacks of Henrietta Lacks’ family. HeLa is a commonly used cell line in laboratories worldwide and is so often referred to as “the cell line that changed modern science”. This line of immortal cells has helped advance science in ways beyond compare. HeLa has allowed cell testing, cell cloning, and the discovery of various vaccines, including the HPV vaccine. While HeLa has done wonders in the medical field, it has caused unrepairable damage among the Lacks family.
...ce, although both writings are interesting in their own ways, the most interesting aspect of both writings together is that they both have a similar plot and theme. It is rare that two
While reading the book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, I had so many emotions running through my mind. I would often think, what if that was my family or me? It is also very different because of the years this happened in. there were a lot of unlawful things going on that should have been against the law but were not at the time. Henrietta, as I read was an amazing woman who has a harsh life and also after she lost her life, it continued to be difficult. Henrietta kept her cancer from her family for some time and as stated in the book it was common for people to keep secrets about medical conditions (Skloot). I think Lacks is am amazing woman, not only for what she unknowingly did for the future of medicine but also as a mother and wife. She was such a strong woman and her legacy carry on and she story will be told all over.
The Cell, the fundamental structural unit of all living organisms. Some cells are complete organisms, such as the unicellular bacteria and protozoa, others, such as nerve, liver, and muscle cells, are specialized components of multicellular organisms. In another words, without cells we wouldn’t be able to live or function correctly. There are Animal Cells and Plant Cells. In Biology class the other day we studied the Animal Cell. We were split into groups of our own and we each picked a different animal cell slide to observe. My group chose the slide,'; Smeared Frog Blood ';.