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INTERACTTransgenics ScenarioHenrietta Lacks, a thirty-one-year-old black woman from Baltimore, Maryland, was diagnosed with a particularly virulent form of cervical cancer in 1951. Although she died of the disease less than a year later, the first line of human cell cultures (code named "HeLa" to protect her privacy) were developed from her initial tumor biopsy. HeLa cells were used shortly thereafter to develop and refine the first vaccine for polio and have been a cornerstone in biotechnology research ever since.While several other lines of human cells have since been cultured and induced to divide and reproduce in the laboratory, HeLa cells remain a staple in worldwide biological research. HeLa cells grow and reproduce so well that they have become a two-edged sword for researchers - if a few HeLa cells accidentally contaminate another cell culture's test tube or petri dish, they can spread and destroy the other culture, invalidating research findings and destroying years of work. Henrietta Lacks herself was probably never asked if she wished to donate her cells to science or informed that her biopsy had been cultured. It was not until the 1970s that her husband and four children found out about the contribution she had made to medicine and the biotechnology industry. Skip forward 24 years. Get more information about transgenics. |
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| SCENARIOS Marfan Syndrome | Breast Cancer | Transgenics About the Programs | Behind the Scenes | Learn More | Interact | Search the Site The DNA Files Home |
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