A Piece of Science and Black History

So a week ago a friend of mine changed her profile pic to Henrietta Lacks. It instantly made me think of the time I first heard of her. Who is that you ask? Well Lacks is the first woman to die of cervical cancer. So what is the big deal? Well she died over 50 years ago and her cells are still alive as "HeLa cells", which were used for countless things. Her cervical cells are immortal and still alive being used for research. It is important to know that she is a black woman and unknowingly contributed her cells to science. Her family never even knew that the hospital took her cells...pure exploitation.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

I first heard of Henrietta Lack's my Junior year when my Microbiology teacher spoke of her in class. I was so interested that lecture. We happened to be talking about the discovery of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) leading to cervical cancer and many people that have been influential to the development of things often go undisclosed. I think it was also important to know that my professor, Dr. Jones, was the first black teacher that I had at Emory (yeah it took until Junior year to have a black professor...sad).

So now Henrietta's story is being shared with the general public. Rebecca Skloot has even written a book about Henrietta Lack's story "The Immortal Life." So I have blabbed on enough, I can't do her justice like this wonderful article in the New York Times. If you have extra time please read. Also here is the link to synopsis on the Book, The Immortal Life.

It truly is fascinating. Until Next Time...