The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

1. Research an article that is related to the Hela Cells. Discuss it in a minimum of 100
words. (E.g. Hastening the availability of polio vaccine)

Vessels for Collective Progress: The Use of HeLa Cells in COVID-19 Research
This article discusses how HeLa cells are used in identifying the infectivity of the
virus SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Scientists have been studying COVID-19 with the use of
HeLa cells, however they found out that the virus couldn't infect the cells. Consequently,
the researchers dig in on the viral entry which is not present on the HeLa cells.
ACE 2 is a molecule used by other types of coronavirus to infect the cells. The
particles of ACE2 are located in the surface of some human cells, surrounding the cells.
They thought that there might be a possibility that this novel coronavirus could also inter
HeLa cells through this ACE2 molecule.
As a result, the researchers engineered HeLa cells by adding the ACE2 molecule
in the cell's surface and soon found out that the virus successfully entered and infected
the cells. ACE2 molecule serves as an entry for the virus and as it infects the cells, it
uses the cell’s machinery to replicate and spread, causing the novel coronavirus
disease – COVID-19. Hence, HeLa cells paved the way for in the discovery of an
important aspect of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and thus of viral spread.
Reference:
https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/vessels-for-collective-progress-the-use-of-hela-
cells-in-covid-19-research/

2. If you're Henrietta and the doctors ask for your permission that they will going to take
samples from your cells. Would you allow them? Why?
If I were Henreitta Lacks, I would allow them to take samples from my cells given
that they ask for my permission because I simply wanted to help. Knowing that my cells
are capable of aiding experts in their research studies such as developing drugs for
certain diseases, developing treatments and vaccines, for example, I would gladly give
my approval for as long as they would use them for good causes. Through my cells,
somehow, I did my part in contributing to the betterment of the life on this world by
bringing advancement and progress to the field of medicine.

3. What were the challenges of Rebecca when she is on the process of publishing the
book?
 The trust issue and the prejudice on the whites of the Lacks family were the
primary and greatest challenges of Rebecca in her journey of publishing the book.
Lacks family were defensive at first in giving information about Henreitta to Rebecca
because of their past experiences/history on white journalists contacting them for stories
without offering transparency or proper compensation building up their prejudice on the
whites. On top of that, their recent ordeal with Cofield that gave Deborah a stroke added
to their negative impression on whosoever trying to contact them regarding Henreitta's
life. The Lacks family initially didn't want to give their stories about Henreitta. More
specifically, Deborah doubted that Rebecca is working for John Hopkins Hospital. Later
in the movie, Deborah discovered that her sister Elsie has been subjected to horrific
abuse which led her behave erratically that made it more difficult and challenging for
Rebecca to complete the book. In other words, winning the trust of the family, especially
Deborah’s trust was her main challenge as she wrote the book.

4. Why were the Lacks' defensive in giving information about Henrietta?

Based on what I understood, Lacks family were defensive at first in giving
information about Henreitta to Rebecca because of their past experiences/history on
white journalists contacting them for stories without offering transparency or proper
compensation building up their prejudice on the whites. On top of that, their recent
ordeal with Cofield that gave Deborah a stroke added to their negative impression on
whosoever trying to contact them regarding Henreitta's life. Hence, the Lacks family
initially didn't want to give their stories about Henreitta. Also, more specifically, Deborah
doubted that Rebecca is working for John Hopkins Hospital.