Showing posts with label Skloot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skloot. Show all posts
February - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
We had a great start to 2016 with our discussion of our January 25th book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The book group loved this book for several reasons--it was interesting, it had lots of information but well organized and relevant, and the author's dedication was key to the success of relating this complex subject. Our refreshments included the famous Baltimore Berger cookies and grapes.
Also--please note that the May 2016 meeting date has been corrected. The LME Library will be closed on Monday, May 30 so we will be meeting a week earlier on Monday, May 23rd. Sorry for any confusion!
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - January 2016
Our Coffee Chat went very well on December 14th, and everyone brought lots of goodies--thanks!
Summary:
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of--From publisher description.
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