The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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    The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

    Courtney Ailing
  • Alexis Carrel claims to have grown immortal chicken heart cells

  • Birth of Henrietta Lacks

  • George Gey

    Discovers the first immortal cell from a human using cells from Henrietta's cervix. It is given the name HeLa.
  • Henrietta's Death

    Henrietta dies to an unusual and aggressive case of cervical cancer.
  • HeLa Factory

    The Tuskegee institute opens their first HeLa factory, working as a non profit, where they supply cells to laboratories and researchers.
  • Polio

    Scientists use HeLa cells to establish the polio vaccine.
  • Cloned

    HeLa cells are the first cells to be cloned.
  • Chester Southam

    Southam begins unconsentually experimenting on patients to determine if injections of HeLa cells can cause cancer.
  • Hybrid

    HeLa cells are fused with mouse cells creating the first human-animal cell hybrid,
  • Stanley Gartler

    Gartler proposes that HeLa cells have contaminated multiple cell lines.
  • Family

    Henrietta's family finds out her cells are still alive.
  • John Hopkins

    Researchers from John Hopkins take samples from Henrietta's children without consent