Henrietta Lacks Timeline

By karsen

  • Removal of Henrietta's Tissue

    Lacks received her first treatment for cervical cancer somewhere around this date. The surgeon at Johns Hopkins was Dr. Lawrence Wharton, who took a piece of her cervical tissue to send to George Gey while she was unconscious.

  • George Gey's WAAM Appearance

    George Gey appears on television to present his discovery of the first immortal cells. As much as it was a significant discovery, people were weary to cell culture, due to Alexis Carrell's "living chicken heart."

  • Death of Henrietta Lacks

    Lacks dies at 12:15am, officially due to terminal uremia blood poisoning. This was caused by the amount of toxins that had built up in her blood from receiving treatments.

  • Polio Vaccine

    Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh but needed to test it on a large scale. George Gey aided Salk and the NFIP (who assisted in the large trial), and gave them HeLa cells, since they were inexpensive and massively grew.

  • Cell Transportation

    With the rise of the polio virus, Gey and NFIP colleagues started experimenting with HeLa cells. However, they needed a way to transport these cells to perform more testing. Gey successfully found ways to ship these cells. Soon enough, these cells could be transported worldwide, in many different forms of transportation.

  • 46 or 48 Chromosomes?

    A Texas geneticist (unnamed) accidentally mixes the HeLa cells with liquid and a few other cells. This combination resulted in the spread and swell of chromosomes, where the geneticist could recognize that humans contained 46 chromosomes, and not 48 like researches had believed so in the past. Additionally, doctors could diagnose genetic disorders, like Down syndrome.

  • Cold War Experiments

    As the Cold War skyrocketed, scientists began to experiment with HeLa cells. Scientists used HeLa cells to test how cells were destroyed by nuclear bombs, and try to find ways to reverse the damage.

  • Southam Experiments

    Virologist Chester Southam injects healthy volunteers with HeLa cells in order to conduct research about cancer. Southam chose to perform on inmates in Ohio, where he discovered they fought off the cancer completely when he injected them.

  • HeLa in Space

    By the 1960s, scientists stated how HeLa cells were everywhere. HeLa cells could grow in space. The cells went up in the second satellite by the Russians. They went up in America's satellite, Discovery XVIII.

  • Further Hybrid Discoveries

    After the HeLa-mouse hybrid, Harris fused HeLa and chicken cells (had inability to reproduce). He discovered that gene regulation was caused by something in cells. Furthermore, scientists began to create hybrids, discovering monoclonal antibodies and the role of immunity in organ transplantation. However, these hybrid discoveries unnerved the public, and scientists faced backlash.

  • Somatic Cell Fusion and Hybrids

    Two British scientists, Henry Harris and John Watkins fused mouse cells with HeLa cells, creating a human-animal hybrid. These hybrids contained equal amounts of DNA from Lacks and a mouse.

  • The HeLa Bomb

    At the Second Decennial Review Conference, Stanley Gartler explained how HeLa cells have contaminated cell lines. Meaning, scientists have ultimately been regrowing HeLa cells. Scientists either disregarded Gartler's allegations or tested the specific identification of HeLa cells.

  • War on Cancer

    Russian scientists believed they discovered a cancer virus, which is found in Russian cancer patients. Since Russians and Americans were working together, Russians sent samples to America to be tested. Ultimately, the cancer virus was actually HeLa cells.

  • HeLa Cells Selling

    Johns Hopkins and George Gey claim they did not make a single penny off of the selling of HeLa cells. However, many other biotech companies had, such as the American Type Culture Collection. Henrietta Lacks' family recently discovered this. Furthermore, Deborah Lacks started to become more interested in her mother's cells.

  • Human Papilloma Virus 18 (HPV-18)

    German virologist, Harald zur Hausen discovered HPV-18, which causes cervical cancer, along with HPV-16. Extensive HPV research ultimately led to how Lacks' cervical cancer had started.