1920-1951
“Henrietta’s cells have now been living outside her body far longer than they ever lived inside
it,”― Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Ms. Lacks was a cancer patient and her cells were harvested. They have been used continuously for more than 70 years and have been the basis for countless biomedical discoveries.
The fact that her cells were harvested without informed consent, and that she received no compensation for their use is an important aspect of the history of biology and a lesson in the ethics of research.
General Biology 1 Genetics
Cell Biology Inheritance
Biological Data Analysis and Communication Immunology
Virology
Developmental Biology Pre-Osteopathic Seminars
1. Ulaby, Neda. “Henrietta Lacks’ Lasting Impact Detailed In New Portrait.” NPR, NPR, 16 May 2018, www.npr.org/2018/05/15/611389741/henrietta- lacks-lasting-
2.Smith, Ryan P. “Famed for ‘Immortal’ Cells, Henrietta Lacks Is Immortalized in Portraiture.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 15 May 2018, www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/famed- immortal-cells-henrietta-lacks-immortalized-portraiture-180969085/.
3.Gamble, Vanessa Northington. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Reconsidered.” Hastings Center Report, vol. 44, no. 1, Wiley Subscription Services, Inc, Jan. 2014, p. inside back cover–inside back cover, doi:10.1002/hast.239.
4. Nisbet, Matthew C., and Declan Fahy. “Bioethics in Popular Science: Evaluating the Media Impact of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on the Biobank Debate.” BMC Medical Ethics, vol. 14, no. 1, BioMed Central Ltd, Feb. 2013, p. 10–, doi:10.1186/1472-6939-14-10.
5.The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks . Home Box Office, 2017. 6. Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks . Crown Publishers, 2010.
7.Dimaano, Christian, and Clarence Spigner. “Teaching from The Immortal
Life of Henrietta Lacks: Student Perspectives on Health Disparities and Medical Ethics.” Health Education Journal, vol. 76, no. 3, SAGE Publications, Apr. 2017, pp. 259–70, doi:10.1177/0017896916667624.
8. Gill, Michael, and Nirmala Erevelles. “The Absent Presence of Elsie Lacks: Hauntings at the Intersection of Race, Class, Gender, and
Disability.” African American Review, vol. 50, no. 2, Summer 2017, pp. 123–137. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/afa.2017.0017.
Photo 1: The Mother of Modern Medicine by Kadir Nelson, oil on linen, 2017.Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Kadir Nelson and the JKBN Group LLC.
Photo 2: HeLa Cell