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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
The initiative wasn’t taken to learn about the family or the origin of the cells. Roland H. Berg, a press officer at the NFIP, sent George Gey, head of tissue-research at John Hopkins, a letter saying, “ An intrinsic part of this story would be to describe how these cells, originally obtained from Henrietta Lakes, are being grown and used for the benefit of mankind” (pg. 106). This letter is a very clear representation of the lack of knowledge from society. Berg referred to Henrietta as “Henrietta Lakes” on multiple occasions in the letter. The correct form of her name wasn’t even known. A name is such a distinct representation of identity and Henrietta’s was so commonly mixed up and misspelled. An opposing view could argue that the scientists’ job was to work with the cells. Their goal was not to learn the family tree of the individual, but to make discoveries using the cells. It wasn’t until the autopsy of Henrietta Lacks, that people started to face reality: HeLa is not just a cell line. HeLa was a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a best friend. Mary Gey, George Gey’s wife and research assistant, viewed Henrietta’s body once it was being used for tests in the autopsy room. She noticed that Henrietta had her toenails painted with a bright red polish. Mrs. Gey said, “When I saw those toenails, I nearly fainted. I
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
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...
In 1951, the sickness of a poor African American woman named Henrietta Lacks -also know as HeLa- would go on to change the face of scientific research; without her consent. Henrietta Lacks went into John Hopkins Hospital in hopes of medical treatment, but instead her cells were unlawfully stolen from her and used for scientific advances in the world of medicine for the creations of the polio vaccine, cell cloning, vitro fertilization, and gene mapping. Long after Henrietta's death, Henrietta's family was forced to live a life of poverty without medical insurance simply because they could not afford it although their mothers cells had yielded billions of dollars due to its advances in the medical world. The scientific community and the media
...Evaluation and comparison of Hela, Hep2C and Vero cell lines sensitivity to polio vaccinal virus using micro and macro vaccine potency tests. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from http://www.archrazi.com/browse.php?a_id=319&sid=1&slc_lang=en
The doctors started taking the cervical cancerous tissue without Henrietta’s knowledge, and surprisingly, the cells did not die in the culture dish as normal cells did. George Gey, the doctor who sends the “immortal” cells to his colleagues for the purpose of researching, creates the first immortalized human cell line that helps save a large number of people’s lives. After the Lackses realized that Henrietta’s cells had been sold without their consent, they did not start taking action because of their lack of knowledge.... ... middle of paper ... ...
HeLa cells were one of the greatest medical inventions that came about for the scientific field and yet the woman behind this medical feat is not fully remembered and honored. Her cells and tissue were taken away from her without consent and more than that, she was exploited for being black and not questioning what the doctor was doing. Her family suffered through countless years of agonizing pain in which they were misinformed about where and what her cells were being used for. Yes, HeLa cells changed the way we view medicine today, but only at the cost of creating one of the greatest controversies of owning ones body.
In the 1960s the HeLa cells were everywhere. In the 1960s the scientist wondered since the cells grew so fast and lived on earth so well if they would live in space. They got the idea to send the Hela cells to space. They sent several vials into space by the Discoverer XVII when it went. They discovered that when the HeLa cells went to space they became more powerful and divided faster every time they went to space. Several years later in 1965 they took equal amounts from the HeLa cells and cells from a mouse. The scientists done this to study to see what the genes would do. Harris also took HeLa cells and chicken cells, but they discovered they couldn’t reproduce.
Along with the discovery of 46 chromosomes, scientists and researchers were able to map genes tracing back diseases. The production of the cells to test all these different diseases increased as more cell factories were built and cells could be shipped safely. This led to a multi-million industry, but also led to a loss of money along the way when HeLa cells infected many crucial experiments. HeLa led to many patient consent rules and regulations, including her family. These regulations included the government coming up with a commission and the Common Rule.
Often in the darkest time it is good to seek relief in the good of every situation. With the death of a Mother, Daughter, and contributing member in society, it may be hard to try and find any positivity to draw from. With the unfortunate and untimely death of Henrietta, came the opportunity of life to millions of others in society then, now, and for many years to come. The goal of medical research is to put society as a whole in a better place than it was at the day before. The use of HeLa cells in every developed country on the globe has made this objective much more achievable. The Lacks family led the way for the consent form being required for patients undergoing a medical procedure Although, there was no direct benefit to the family, raising many ethical considerations that must be
Skloot gains credibility by describing researchers who took different approaches to culturing cells. A French surgeon at the Rockefeller Institute named Alexis Carrel grew his “immortal chicken heart.” Many researchers believed it was not possible to have tissues living outside of the body, and Carrel proved them wrong by growing a sliver of chicken-heart tissue in culture successfully. Doctor George Gey was the head of tissue culture research at Johns Hopkins Hospital where Henrietta was treated for her cancer. Dr. Gey, along with his wife, had spent years trying to grow cells outside of the human body in search of the cause and cure for cancer. Most cells they tested either died or hardly grew. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot writes, “The Geys were determined to grow the first immortal human cells: a continuously dividing line of cells all descended from one original sample, cells that would constantly replenish themselves and never die” (30; ch. 3). Little did they know, they were about to grow the first immortal human cells, using cells they removed fro...
In “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, the narrator attempts to understand the relationship between humans and nature and finds herself concluding that they are intertwined due to humans’ underlying need to take away from nature, whether through the act of poetic imagination or through the exploitation and contamination of nature. Bishop’s view of nature changes from one where it is an unknown, mysterious, and fearful presence that is antagonistic, to one that characterizes nature as being resilient when faced against harm and often victimized by people. Mary Oliver’s poem also titled “The Fish” offers a response to Bishop’s idea that people are harming nature, by providing another reason as to why people are harming nature, which is due to how people are unable to view nature as something that exists and goes beyond the purpose of serving human needs and offers a different interpretation of the relationship between man and nature. Oliver believes that nature serves as subsidence for humans, both physically and spiritually. Unlike Bishop who finds peace through understanding her role in nature’s plight and acceptance at the merging between the natural and human worlds, Oliver finds that through the literal act of consuming nature can she obtain a form of empowerment that allows her to become one with nature.
Klebsiella pneumonia is a gram-negative, encapsulated, lactose-fermenting, non-motile, facultative anaerobic, urease positive, indole-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is in the Enterobacteriaceae family (Tufts University, n.d.). Klebsiella is typically found in the nose or mouth, gastrointestinal tract (CDC, 2012). Klebsiella pneumonia was first discovered in 1882 as a pathogen that caused pneumonia (). Klebsiella can cause various types of health-related infections in the bloodstream, wound, and also surgical site infections (CDC, 2012). A common place to become infected with Klebsiella is the hospital settings, while being treated for other illnesses. Patients who get infected this way typically are on a ventilator or intravenous catheters (CDC, 2012). Klebsiella was named after Edwin Klebs, who was a German microbiologist (Obiamiwe, 2013).
Experiments on animal test subjects including rats and chimpanzees has shown little to no results. This research has shown how many medical “achievements” such as vaccines developed using animal testing failed to improve human health. Not only is animal research ineffective, but PETA shows us that most of the recent medical advancements, like research against a variety of diseases, were achieved without animal testing. Overall, we can conclude that the majority of our medical advancements are attributed to other forms of research. Not animal
The first successful case of stem cell therapy in human was reported in 1959. Bone marrow restorations were observed in leukemia patients who received total body irradiation subsequent by intravenous injection of their twins’ bone marrow (Thomas et al, 1957). Nevertheless, that effect was transient and the following bone marrow transplantation attempts in non-twin patients and donors can eventually lead to patient’s death from graft-versus-host disease (Mathé et al, 1965). During that time, the safety of hematopoietic cells transplantation was not guaranteed because of the limited knowledge in human histocompatibility and immunosuppression. However, the turning point came after the discovery of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) groups (Dausset, 1958; van Rood et al, 1958), HLA typing and compatibility testing were performed prior to the transplantation. In addition, the improvement of immunosuppressive protocol also helps bringing the bone marrow transplantation to become more and more successful (Donnall and Hutchinson, 1999).