*Replay - Webinar #4 - The Cells Of Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks: An Unsung, Shero of Modern Medicine

Doctors took samples of her cells without her knowledge or consent and has used her cells for medical research including chemotherapy and in vitro fertilization.

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Alexis Carrel, who praised Hitler, used HeLa cells while researching organ transplantation and life extension for the benefit of the “educated white male race only”.

HeLa Cells also were used to study viruses like AIDS and Ebola.

HeLa Transformed Research

• HeLa was sent into space to assess how cells behaved in orbit

• HeLa cells helped in various advances such as,

• The discovery that cigarettes cause lung cancer

• The development of chemotherapy drugs
  

HeLa Cells and Genetics

In 1953, a lab mistake involving mixing HeLa cells with the wrong liquid allowed researchers to see and count each chromosome clearly in the HeLa cells they were working with for the first time.

The accidental discovery led scientists to develop better techniques for staining and counting chromosomes.