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Medical researchers use laboratory-grown human cells to learn the intricacies of how cells work and test theories about the causes and treatment of diseases. The cell lines they need are “immortal”—they can grow indefinitely, be frozen for decades, divided into different batches and shared among scientists. In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research—though their donor remained a mystery for decades.
Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Many scientific landmarks since then have used her cells, including cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.
Originally posted by Gazrok
So Jesus was a black dude? (old reference to a WWII spoof movie, "A Man Called Sarge")...
But seriously, I wonder if some will claim the donor to be a descendent of Jesus, etc., etc....???
Ok, in all seriousness though...wonder what the implication is for combining these properties with stem cells and cloning could mean...?
Originally posted by andre18
are these cells from this women still available to be tested on or what?
Yeah they are still around. In fact, it was discovered in the 70's that they had taken over many (perhaps half) other laboratory cell cultures all over the world. It caused quite a stir and they have since been very carefully genetically mapped and kept close tabs on because of their aggressiveness.
I'm not in the game but I don't think they know exactly what's going on with them to this day. They certainly have contributed to medical knowledge in a profound way and the story is fascinating. -I can see why the book was written.
Originally posted by beezwaxes
reply to post by ldyserenity
No, she died of cancer. The cells from the tumor multiply very aggressively.
Originally posted by ldyserenity
Originally posted by beezwaxes
reply to post by ldyserenity
I hate life but I think I'd enjoy it more if I were Immortal!
LOL, Man you're complex. Thanks for the morning chuckle.
Originally posted by andre18
So i'm confused, are these cells from this women still available to be tested on or what? If not then what hope do we have of replicating it in the lab?
If we do still have the original cells then why has it taken so long to replicate her cells so they can be used by now for medical uses?