HeLa Cells of Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Her cervical cells were taken and grown in culture by a scientist called George Otto Gey. He called it “HeLa” using the first two letters of the first and last names. It grew like no other cells. He sent the cells to scientists around the world and it became the most widely used cell line in the world. It was the first human immortal cell line.

HeLa cells have helped in many medical discoveries including the polio vaccination and currently spearing heading research in AIDS. Her cells were grown commercially and companies made lots of money from her cells without Henrietta’s or her family’s consent. Sadly, the Lacks families had no clue about the existence of her cells till a few years ago. They are so poor that they can’t even afford health insurance. Read more about this amazing cell line and the black woman called Henrietta Lacks who may have died but her cells remain immortal to this day in the new ebook HeLa Cells of Henrietta Lacks.