Hela Cells of Henrietta Lacks, Paperback/Nishi Singh

Descriere

Rebecca Skloot and her best-seller, 'The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' has created a lot of interest in the immortal He La cells that were taken from a 31 year old black woman called Henrietta Lacks without her family's consent at the Johns Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore in 1951. She describes the story of how Henrietta Lacks died and how her cells were sent around the world for medical research. She goes through the life stories of Henrietta and the Lacks family and the pain they endured when they found out about Henrietta's cells. Skloot's narration of the entire account is powerful, emotional, painful and even heart breaking. Her book has become a notable science reading for high school children and science undergraduates in the United States. And rightly so, Henrietta's story is a case of medical racism, violation of ethical obligation, segregation, ignorance, poverty and painful American history. Today, He La cells are the most widely used cell line in the world and has been instrumental in many of the world's medical discoveries. It was the first cells to be sent to space, has helped eradicate polio and has been used in 70, 000 medical studies including the development of drugs for herpes, Parkinson's disease, leukaemia and influenza. The title 'The immortal life of Henriette Lacks' actually refers to the immortalization of cancer cells and we look at how He La cells are cultured and are able to divide indefinitely. This book looks at the life of Henrietta Lacks and describes He La cells in more detail. Topics covered in this book: Table of contents What are He La cells? Where did He La cells come from? Who was Henrietta Lacks? Epithelial adenocarcinoma and He La Life of Henrietta The family of Henrietta Lacks Dr. George Otto Gey - The man behind He La cells How are He La cells grown in culture? Why are He La cells immortal? He La cell controversy He La genome data use agreement Discoveries made from He La cells Ethical issues behind the use of He La cells About the book