ACT/SAT Definitions
Name at least three ways in which the HeLa cells have been used.
What is the cells have:
Been sent to space to research the effect of zero gravity on human cells
Helped lead to advances in medicine such as the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, and in-vitro fertilization
Been used for many other purposes as well.
efers to the death of body tissue due to either a lack of blood flow or a serious bacterial infection.
When the Rolling Stone article appeared in 1976, the Lacks family learned for the first time that the HeLa cells were highly profitable.
Mary was the assistant to this doctor and cell research specialist.
Who is Dr. George Gey?
What did the NIH do in response to the Southam case?
How did the Pap smear benefit women? (Chap. 3)
They could detect precancerous cells and reduce the risk of women dying from cervical cancer.
Describe the “HeLa Factory” at the Tuskegee Institute.
The “HeLa Factory” at the Tuskegee employed many African-American scientists and technicians and included facilities for mass-producing and shipping the HeLa cells in huge quantities.
This doctor tested the effects of cancerous HeLa cells on his uninformed patients and test subjects by injecting them with her cells.
Who is Dr. Chester Southam?
How did Henrietta's daughter-in-law Bobette find out about the HeLa cells? (Chap. 23)
25 years later, her friend's brother-in-law was discussing them at the lunch table.
Why did advances in genetic research require the 1973 HEW law to be passed? (Chap. 23)
With all the information that could be determined, testing was no longer anonymous and it became an invasion of privacy.
What is “benevolent deception,” and why did doctors believe in it at the time of Henrietta’s treatment?
Benevolent deception is the practice of doctors withholding upsetting or negative information from their patients. They believed in this kind of deception at the time of Henrietta’s treatment because they felt it was unnecessary and unwise to burden patients with information that they could not fully understand and that could only upset them.
This doctor forced Susan Hsu to contact the surviving family of Henrietta to obtain new DNA samples.
Who is Victor McKusick?
Why did the Jewish doctors specifically object to the research of Dr. Southam (Chap. 17)
Because of the recent events involving the Nazi doctors and their experiments during the Holocaust.
Why did they need DNA samples from the rest of the Lacks family? (Chap. 23)
To find Henrietta's cells after a contamination and to find out more about the HeLa genotype.
HeLa cells have been sold for large profits for many years. Who has profited from the HeLa cells? George Guy? Johns Hopkins? Be specific.
Many private biological-supply companies have profited from the sales of HeLa cells, for example Microbiological Associates. Also, the American Type Culture Collection—technically a non-profit—has sold HeLa cells for as much as $256 per vial. However, the Johns Hopkins Hospital and George Gey himself did not sell the HeLa cells. They only gave them away to other researchers.
When Deborah found out that her mother's cells were alive, what were 2 things that she was worried about. (Chap. 23)
The cells felt pain OR that Deborah would eventually suffer from the same disease.
Describe Dr. Southam's stages of research and testing his hypothesis. (Chap. 17): Sets of test subjects --> Means of testing them --> How he informed the patients
Leukemia/cancer patients and then healthy prisoners --> injection of cells --> didn't inform them; just told them it was cancer research
What are “night doctors”? What did they supposedly do? Why does Skloot bring up this term in this chapter?
Johns Hopkins himself established the hospital in 1873 as a charity hospital for the poor of all races in the city of Baltimore.