Choate 1HeLa Cells in Medical Research and BioethicsUsed in scientific research, HeLa cells are known to be a type of tissue-cultured immortal cell line. A cell line is a group of cells taken from a person and used for scientific research (science.howstuffworks.com). When a cell type is known to be immortal, this refers to cells capable of dividing an indefinite number of times, when conditions for cell survival are met in the laboratory. The first human cell line to survive in a test tube or in vitro was HeLa cells (science.howstuffworks.com). These cells were taken in the 1950s from the tumor tissue of a woman with cervical cancer. Her name was Henrietta Lacks. Many advances have been made in medicine and biomedical research thanks to its cells. Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman, lived in Virginia, where she grew tobacco (www.smithsonianmag.com). At thirty, she developed cancer. She had a husband and five children, whom she left orphans when she died at age thirty-one (www.esciencecentral.org). She received aggressive treatment, at that time, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, which was one of the only hospitals willing to accept African American patients. While she was undergoing treatment, a doctor took a small sample of tissue from a tumor and sent it for analysis, without her knowledge. It was not uncommon for such things to happen back then. Although she may have signed and acknowledged her treatments, removal of this tissue was not part of it. Once a sample had been taken from a patient, whether by surgery or biopsy, it was no longer considered to belong to the patient, and could be used and...... middle of paper .... ..res or treatments. This shows how important HeLa cells have been to medicine and research. Reference page Callaway, Ewen (August 7, 2013). Agreement concluded on the HeLa cell line. Nature. Retrieved from www.nature.com/news/deal-done-over-hela-cell-line-1.13511HeLa. (Wikipedia). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLaBerhanu, Alamin (2013). Reflecting on the legacy of Henrietta Lack. Biosafety and health education. Retrieved from www.esciencecentral.org/journals/reflection-on-henrietta-lackslegacy-jbhe.1000106.pdf Zielinski, Sarah (January 22, 2010). Cracking the code of the human genome. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved from www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/henrietta-lacks-immortal-cells-6421299/?no-ist Freeman, Shanna. How HeLa cells work. how it works. Retrieved from science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/hela-cell.htm