hela cells
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Honor or Irony? Johns Hopkins University Will Name New Campus Building After Henrietta Lacks
Johns Hopkins University will pay tribute to Henrietta Lacks, the black woman whose cells have helped create life-saving vaccines and treatments, by naming a new research building after her. The university announced its decision on Saturday during its ninth annual Henrietta Lacks Memorial lecture series, reports the Washington Post. University President Ronald J. Daniels told…
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Henrietta Lacks at Johns Hopkins, Slaves at Georgetown, and Compensating Specific Historical Wrongs
On Saturday, HBO aired its original movie The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, an adaptation of the book of the same name. Even if you’ve never read the book (as I haven’t, but am going to) you’ve more than likely heard somebody you know talking about this book, written by Rebecca Skloot, that talks about…
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For the Henrietta Lacks Family, It’s a Matter of Who Gets to Tell Their Story
Who can tell your family’s story? That’s one of the key issues the book and now HBO film, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, raises. It’s one that Henrietta Lacks’ son Lawrence and his son, Ron, have been asking for some time now. Henrietta Lacks is the woman whose cells, named HeLa, were able to…
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Family of Henrietta Lacks Seeks Compensation for Unauthorized Use of Her Cells
The story of Henrietta Lacks and her “immortal” cells is not quite over. Her eldest son, Lawrence Lacks, has come forth requesting compensation from Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University and possibly other institutions for the unauthorized use of the famous cells that prompted decades of medical advances. The Washington Post reports that Lawrence Lacks, who says…