#morningwarmupsketch 02/19/20 I have posted about this person before, but Henrietta Lacks is such a significant, although an unacknowledged figure in modern science. When I first heard about Henrietta Lacks, was during an interview with Rebecca Skloot on the RadioLab podcast about her book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta was diagnosed with epidermoid carcinoma, which was actually an adenocarcinoma. During the treatments without her knowledge or consent, the staff took two tissue samples. One of the samples in which were the cancerous tissue would become known as the HeLa immortal cell line. Lacks died at age 31 on October 4, 1951. Researcher George Otto Gey discovered that Lacks cancer cells could divide numerous times without dying, unlike normal cells that would die after a few days. This meant that one cell could be rapidly produced and used for multiple experiments. HeLa cells have been used to develop the Polio vaccine and have been used for cancer, and AIDS research. The Lacks family has never received any financial compensation from the breakthroughs that were made due to Henrietta's tragic situation. She has been posthumously commemorated, in Atlanta on October 11 is Henrietta Lacks Day, and in 2018 Johns Hopkins Institute named one of their medical building on campus after Lacks. In 2017 Oprah Winfrey and HBO released the film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, based on Skloot's book. Lacks' unintentional, yet invaluable contribution made a huge impact on modern medical science and has saved possibly millions of lives. I guess that this post can still fall into the category of speculative fiction because it makes me think of a quote from Matt Smith's Doctor, number eleven. I think he really sums up what this post is about. "900 years of time and space and I've never met someone who wasn't important." #blackhistorymonth #RebeccaSkloot @RebeccaSkloot #TheImmortalLifeofHenriettaLacks #radiolab @radiolab #science #hela #HeLaimmortalcellline #polio #oprah #oprahwinfrey #blackhistorymonth #sciencefiction #speculativefiction #fantasy #mattsmith #eleventhdoctor #thedoctor #doctorwho https://www.instagram.com/p/B8wgV3Kj1Z6/?igshid=225e2a88igfd
