12.Why were Henrietta Lack´s cells so important?

 

 

Henrietta´s cells were the first inmortal human cells ever grown in culture.

Henrietta lived with her husband and five children.

She died in 1951, with only 31 years, because of an agresive cervical cáncer, and some of her cells were taken from her body. So many scientifics studied them, with nobody knowing about it, but her family discovered the studies in 1970, almost 19 years after.

Lot of samples were sended to different lavoratories all over the world. The cells were sended to space to investigate what would happen to them in zero gravity, were the first in be cloned.

Thanks to the cells scientifics discovered the virus HPV, which caused cervical cáncer, and created a vaccine to this virus.

Some scientifics prove that the cells can travell throught any surface and can evit their own destruction by reparing their DNA, but the reason they can do that is unknown for the moment.

What else could Hela cells make us dicover?

 

 

 

LINKS:

 

An animated video about Henrietta cells and Henrietta life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22lGbAVWhro

A page were you can find the answer to many other questions:

http://blog.ed.ted.com/