The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks Cover Image

E-book

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks [electronic resource] / Rebecca Skloot.

Skloot, Rebecca, 1972- (Author).

Summary:

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 9780307589385 (electronic bk. : Adobe Digital Editions)
ISBN: 0307589382 (electronic bk. : Adobe Digital Editions)
Physical Description: 1 online resource (x, 369 p.)
Publisher: New York : Crown Publishers, c2010.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Title from eBook information screen.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note:	Life. The exam ... 1951 ; Clover ... 1920-1942 ; Diagnosis and treatment ... 1951 ; The birth of HeLa ... 1951 ; "Blackness be spreadin all inside ... 1951 ; "Lady's on the phone" ... 1999 ; The death and life of cell culture ... 1951 ; "A miserable specimen ... 1951 ; Turner Station ... 1999 ; The other side of the tracks ... 1999 ; "The devil of pain itself" ... 1951 -- Death. The storm ... 1951 ; The HeLa factory ... 1951-1953 ; Helen Lane ... 1953-1954 ; "Too young to remember" ... 1951-1965 ; "Spending eternity in the same place" ... 1999 ; Illegal, immoral, and deplorable ... 1954-1966 ; "Strangest hybrid" ... 1960-1966 ; "The most critical time on this earth is now" ... 1966-1973 ; The HeLa bomb ... 1966 ; Night doctors ... 2000 ; "The fame she so richly deserves" ... 1970-1973 -- Immortality. "It's alive" ... 1973-1974 ; "Least they can do" ... 1975 ; "Who told you you could sell my spleen?" ... 1976-1988 ; Breach of privacy ... 1980-1985 ; The secret of immortality ... 1984-1995 ; After London ... 1996-1999 ; A village of Henriettas ... 2000 ; Zakariyya ... 2000 ; Hela, goddess of death ... 2000-2001 ; "All that's my mother" ... 2001 ; The hospital for the Negro insane ... 2001 ; The medical records ... 2001 ; Soul cleansing ... 2001 ; Heavenly bodies ... 2001 ; "Nothing to be scared about" ... 2001 ; The long road to Clover ... 2009 -- Where they are now.
System Details Note:	Requires OverDrive Media Console Requires Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 5139 KB).