The story of how one woman’s cells revolutionized medical science

For my Final Major Project I decided to create a campaign that I named “The Henrietta Lacks Project”. The campaign is about an American woman who passed away in 1951, but will continue to live on forever in her cells. Cells taken from a malignant tumor in her cervix continued to grow on their own outside of the human body. They named her cell line “HeLa”. This was a major accomplishment for medical science as now they could not only map the human genome and make discoveries on the chromosonial level, but they could also easily test new medications and vaccines on human cells without harming any subjects.

The collection and use of the cells however is a controversial topic. In the 1950s there was no need for consent from the patient to either retrieve the cells or use them in research. The cells were taken from Henrietta and used in research without her knowledge. After her death, her family was oblivious to Heniretta´s “immortality”, and continued to live in poverty. As her story has become more known, her family has made it clear that they support the use of the cells, because they help people. The only thing they wish for is that Henrietta gets the recognition she deserves. That is why I have made this campaign.