Henrietta Lacks
Her cervical cancer cells, taken in 1951 without her knowledge, became HeLa, the first immortal human cell line. Her story changed how consent and family rights in research are handled.
Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) was treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. Cells taken from her tumour without her knowledge grew indefinitely in culture, becoming the HeLa line, the first immortal human cell line and the workhorse of the polio vaccine, virology, and cancer biology, including the work that tied HPV18 to cervical cancer. She died in October 1951 at 31. Her family learned of the cells only in the 1970s. Rebecca Skloot's 2010 book brought the case to public attention; in 2013 the NIH reached an agreement with the family giving them a say in access to the HeLa genome, and in 2023 the family settled a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific over commercial use. Her case is now the standard teaching example for consent, privacy and benefit-sharing in tissue research.
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