Introduction
I. Imagine, that you are an African American woman in the days of Jim Crow. That because of your skin color you were not afforded certain opportunities. You may feel like you will never make an impact on the world. Now imagine you are struck with cancer, a tumor growing inside you, killing you. After death you would never know the major impact you made in the scientific community. That even though you are long gone you are very much alive all over the world, even today.
II. The life I am asking you to imagine is of Henrietta lacks.
III. 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
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Though she received treatment and blood transfusions, she died of uremic poisoning on October 4, 1951, at age 31.
2. When they performed an autopsy they found that the cancer metastasized throughout her body.
III. Doctors removed two cervical samples from Lacks without her knowledge.
A. The sample rocked the scientific community and the HeLa strain revolutionized medical research.
1. At that time scientist were unable to keep human cells alive in culture but with Henrietta’s not only were they able to keep them alive but they reproduced every 24 hours and they kept going.
2. They became the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory.
B. Your life, like many other has probably at some point been touched by Henrietta lacks and most likely you didn’t even know it.
1. Her cells went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity
2. Her cells were used to make the Polio vaccine, chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping, and In vitro fertilization. They helped developed drugs for herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson’s disease and list goes on and on.
C. According to Neal Conan from Talk of the Nation there are trillions of cells growing in laboratories now than there ever were in her
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...
After sixty years HeLa cells are still one of the most popular cells in the world. They were not voluntarily taken, but they have been one of the biggest contributions to society. Without them many viruses would never have had a cure and hundreds of people would have died. However, because Henrietta lived her cells were taken from her. Without her life and death, her cells would never have become immortal like they are today. Her cells continue to help and cure people from diseases and viruses other cells would not be able to help.
Zielinski, Sarah (22 January 2010). Cracking The Code of The Human Genome. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved from www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/henrietta-lacks-immortal-cells-6421299/?no-ist
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
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, multiple cell research studies involving Henrietta’s cells are described. Author Rebecca Skloot writes about Henrietta Lacks’ journey through her cervical cancer and how her cells changed the lives of millions long after her death. Skloot relates the history of cell research, including those studies which were successful and those that were not so successful. It is necessary for the author to include the achievements and disturbing practices of scientists throughout this history to inform readers and focus on the way Henrietta’s cells were used. Truth always matters to readers and Henrietta’s family deserves the truth.
Immortality is a term that is rarely used outside of comic books and fiction novels; the term means to live forever (Merriam-Webster). Henrietta Lacks was an American woman from Clover Virginia whose cervical cancer cells were the source of the HeLa cell line. The scientific name for HeLa is helacyton gartleri and is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The HeLa name derived from the first two letters in the name Henrietta Lacks. After being diagnosed with cervical cancer, Henrietta sadly passed away only 8 months later. Henrietta’s cells still live and are growing today and are being used for research purposes.
...or instance, hepatitis C virus), biological molecules (such as cyclic adenosine monophosphate), and Human Immunodeficiency (HIV) virus (Bauman et. al. 2011). Rosalyn had went farther in the world of science than anyone including her self thought was possible (Bauman et. al. 2011). Rosayln and Berson changed history, altered the way science was perceived and their time, and how today we see and research science.
The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot writes about in part one “Life” how it was her lifelong dream to find out who Henrietta was. It was when Skoot was in college taking a biology class where she had first heard about the Hela cells. As the teacher describe, the HeLa cells where immortal and it came from an African American women. As a result, Sckoot curiosity got the best of her and she wanted to learn more. Henrietta is an African American women and she was a tobacco farmer. She had been diagnosed with cervical cancer and later died from a tumor that causes severe pain and blood poisoning. However, the cells that they extracted from her still live, yet the family at the time did not know anything
In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, there is a conflict inside the story about how the title character’s cells should be handled. Outside of the story is the conflict over who the person is that goes through the hero’s journey, is it Skloot or Deborah Lacks? Skloot was a student who became curious about Henrietta Lacks, a woman who had her cells taken away from her without her acknowledgment, and Skloot searches for answers with the help of Henrietta's daughter, Deborah. When everything from the book is taken into consideration it becomes overwhelmingly clear that the hero between these two characters is without question Rebecca.
In 1960 American Journalist and Politician, Clare Boothe Luce delivered a speech to Journalists at the Women's National Press CLub, criticizing the American Press in favor of public demand for sensational stories. Luce prepares her audience for her message through the use of a critical tone.
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
I think that Henrietta's family members felt like they should be monetarily compensated for Henrietta's contribution because of the discrimination that they got from everyone around them. I don't think that Henrietta's family wanted money I think that they wanted to be known for their mother being able to contribute to Science. They just wanted everyone to know who was helping advance Science at such a fast rate back then because sometimes it was unclear what her real name was. They weren't in it for the money but instead they just wanted justice for what had happened to Henrietta. I think that if the family would have had enough money to keep them stable and they were white it wouldn't have changed dramatically. No matter what everyone wants
Henrietta Lacks, who is buried in Virginia, achieved recognition and immortality without her own knowledge in the world of medicine. In 1951, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer and John Hopkins Hospital used her tissues to produce HeLa cells, the most widely used reference cells in research laboratories today1. Due to the distinctiveness of HeLa cells, they play a dynamic role in understanding medicine more in depth by allowing remarkable number of breakthroughs and aiding the society as a whole in improving medicine to combat future obstacles2. The emphasis of my argument will be that HeLa cells should be used in research due to the benefits it provides to medicine.
7.) HeLa allowed scientists to create the first-ever cell production factory, make it possible to test the polio vaccine, successfully ship live cells in the mail, develop methods for freezing cells without harming or changing them, and see that her cells are
..., the name of Henrietta Lacks needs to be introduced to the world since she is the woman who generated HeLa cells, because the name of the person who generated HeLa cells is still unknown. By doing this, her family will be honored and respected by others.