Hela Essay

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Soon after realizing that these cells would continue to reproduce and grow, Gey started giving them away to scientists and researchers around the world who were interested in studying the first established human cell line. By having human cells that survived and grew outside of the human body, scientists could now perform tests on human cells that would not be possible or ethical to do on a living human, such as injecting carcinogens. Despite HeLa cells being cancerous, they still shared many basic characteristics of normal cells. At around the same time as HeLa was first being grown, Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. William Scherer had created a polio vaccine. This vaccine had been tested on a few Rhesus monkeys to measure the quantity of antibody developed …show more content…

Shortly after creating HeLa, Gey received this message and realized that these cells would be the perfect choice. After injecting HeLa cells with an experimental polio virus, Scherer and Salk found that the cells were very susceptible to the virus which meant that they would be the perfect test subjects. They performed many tests on the HeLa cells until they were certain that the vaccine would work without dramatic side effects. Besides playing a major role in creating the polio vaccine, HeLa cells have done much more for the world of science. They have been used to study every aspect of cell physiology as well as the basic machinery of all cells. They were sent up to space in some of the first missions to see how human cells would react to zero gravity. HeLa has helped with some of the most important advances in medicine such as creating chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization. The cells have also been used to research what genes cause cancer and which ones suppress it. They have helped develop drugs for treating herpes, leukaemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson’s

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