Henrietta Lacks Biography
(Source of HeLa Cell Line)
Birthday: August 1, 1920 (Leo)
Born In: Roanoke
Henrietta Lacks was an African-American tobacco farmer whose cancer cells ware used as the source of the HeLa cell line, which has the distinction of being the first immortalized cell line. Owing to this, she has become a notable figure in the history of medicine and medical research. Under particular conditions, the immortalized cell lines will propagate forever and the HeLa cell line serves as one of the most important sources of medical data even today. A native of Virginia, Henrietta Lacks was raised by her maternal grandfather after the death of her mother. During her youth, she shared her room with her future husband, who was also her cousin. She began working as a tobacco farmer at an early age and gave birth to her first child when she was 14 years old. After her marriage, she moved to Maryland with her family. At the age of 31, she was diagnosed, erroneously, with a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. In later years, the doctors deduced her condition to be adenocarcinoma. It was during her treatment at Johns Hopkins that two samples were cultivated from her cervix without informing her or gaining her permission. These cells were later cultured by Dr. George Otto Gey and the HeLa cell line was subsequently created.