The immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks - Robin Bulleri

Imagine something small enough to float on a particle of dust that holds the keys to understanding cancer, virology, and genetics. Luckily for us, such a thing exists in the form of trillions upon trillions of human, lab-grown cells called HeLa. But where did we get these cells? Robin Bulleri tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose DNA led to countless cures, patents, and discoveries.

Lesson by Robin Bulleri, animation by Brandon Denmark.

[dogol]

The Good Thing: we have achieved immortality
The Bad Thing: it’s just cancer

[DiegOoO]

I feel bad for Henrietta, she had the most insane cancer, there was no way she was going to be cured from having that. But, her misfortune is our fortune I guess, we live in a better world thanks to her

[cyanfireall]

The abuse the was subjected to by John Hopkins wasn't even covered in this video. They never treated her like a patient and were never transparent about what they were doing. The "treatments" that they gave her ended up leaving her infertile

[kyliejay]

Got to learn about her in school since I live in Baltimore. It's sad science classes don't teach much about her. Without her, we wouldn't have so many medical advances. Her family deserves compensation.

[bobisnotaperson]

Technically, Henrietta Lacks is still alive, as purple cancer lumps. I salute her.

[E_T]

I remember reading about Henrietta and her cells in college. It was so amazing. It was also kinda terrible to read about her cells being used for such amazing science without Henrietta ever consenting to her cells being used this way or her family ever being compensated. Can't remember if her family ever did get compensation, but I remember the book mentioning her family eventually going to court about it. It was nice to see this video mention the unethical history behind the science instead of just glossing it over as if Henrietta and her family never mattered.

[benthomason]

Glad someone finally explained the "immortal cancers" properly to me. Until now I thought that scientists all over the world were infinitely growing _unkillable_ blobs of cancer.

[UziasLara]

I like how they gave credit to the patient.

[AbhilashNoxBaruahnxee]

Well that was 4 and a half minutes of very very intriguing information.

[alpacaofthemountain]

If there's an afterlife I hope she is happy in the knowledge that she has saved thousands, if not million, of lives

[eddvcr]

3:22 I love the effect of how instead of skeleton, you see the inner parts of a human cell. Bravo, people who worked on this animation!

[theshadowlifter]

HeLa cells are immortal, but Hela is a goddess of death.
Huh.

[MinecraftCutiepie]

How come we don't learn about Henrietta Lacks in school. Her mutated cells still exist today, that's incredible!

[moxieann]

I actually go to a school named after her! What really sucks is that her family wasn’t just middle class-they were in poverty. Henriettas kids couldn’t even afford healthcare, but certain companys we’re making trillons of dollars.the doctors also A) never told her she would be infertial after the radiation treatment B) continually sent her back home even though she was in horrible pain C) never told her family she was dying-they all thought the doctors were still trying to cure her. I suggest to read “the immortal life of Henrietta lacks” by Rebecca skloot

[MrStreaty]

Here’s a question, if her cells are “immortal” meaning they’ve been dividing for 70 years straight with no end in sight, do we know for sure that the dna of those cells hasn’t changed since ‘51? I mean, a serious issue with cell division that this video points out is that eventually errors creep into the code, so are HeLa cells immune codon errors as well? If that’s the case, my next question would be “is it because HeLa cells have so many sets of chromosomes, that they can self correct after each division?”

[therealbenjamin]

Let's talk about how her family never got any kind of settlement

[bloodaid]

The word "Hela" in Swedish means "to heal". What a coincidence.

Edit 5 years later:

Elon Musk = Elon = El On = Electricity On 🤯

[DoublehTater]

I actually knew of this, if i’m not mistaken (they may go over this in the video) but she specifically stated she did not want her lab samples to be used past her death, i dont think she even wanted them to be studies to begin with. But Gey was too infatuated with the potential scientific discoveries, as right as he may be, Lacks specifically said she didnt want her cells to be used

[rosmimathew]

If you haven't I highly recommend reading 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' it's an amazing book talking about her family life, how scientists discovered the cells, and what her children have to say about her cells

[kaioto]

Scientist: Hey, who took the HeLa samples from the lab fridge?

Me feasting on some jelly: