
HeLa, the oldest and most commonly used human cell line - GuiA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa
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542458
The HeLa line was actually the subject of some debate two years ago. In
essence, her family only found out in march 2013 that their ancestor's cells
(which had been taken without consent) were widely used for research. The
family complained, and a settlement was reached with the NIH, allowing the
family some measure of control over where the cells are used, crediting the
origins of the cells in publications, and removing the genome from public-
access databases. Some hail this as a victory for research ethics, while some
feel that it confuses the issue of who has control over donor tissue and
genetic data.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/henrietta-lacks-
fam...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/henrietta-lacks-family-
settlement-on-dna-info_n_3720936.html)

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teraflop
According to the Smithsonian, Lacks' family found out about the HeLa cell line
in the 1970s.

[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/henrietta-
lacks...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/henrietta-lacks-
immortal-cells-6421299/)

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llamataboot
Excellent book, highly recommended:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immortal_Life_of_Henrietta...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immortal_Life_of_Henrietta_Lacks)

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labster
Indeed. I had to keep reminding myself that the book was nonfiction. Some of
the things were exactly the kind of symbolism and setting details I'd expect a
good fiction author to weave into a tale, but they really happened.

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pmoriarty
RadioLab had a great episode about HeLa:

[http://www.radiolab.org/story/91716-henriettas-
tumor/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/91716-henriettas-tumor/)

~~~
lovemenot
Also, Adam Curtis's documentary: The Way of All Flesh
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lMrp_ySg8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lMrp_ySg8)

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eggie
I love the increase in bio topics making it onto the front page. The subject
matter is basic but the quality of the comments is always getting better. Go
bio!

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userbinator
It makes it particularly interesting when the titles contain words that are
homonymous with the usual computers/tech subjects; at first I glossed over the
word "human" and thought this would be about mobile phones.

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pjy04
NK92 is another cell line that is similar to HeLa but fights cancer.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK-92](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK-92)

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fasteo
There is a fascinating book about Mrs. Henrietta Lacks [1]. Highly
recommended.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks-
ebook/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks-
ebook/dp/B003P2WJ6S/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)

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hatsunearu
I'm surprised that HeLa has a binomial name: Helacyton gartleri.

