1. How did the scientific community respond to Gartler’s theory about HeLa contamination?
I think Skloot puts it best: "Gartler's findings did not go over well (p.153)." Scientists resisted this finding at first, then gradually accpeted that their cell culture lines were contaminated, and realized that they had spent countless research hours and dollars on what were essentially HeLa hybrids that they thought were unique cultures. According to Robert Stevenson, as quoted by Skloot, the devastation that the scientific community felt regarding this revelation was akin to the mortification and embarrassmen of "drop[ping] a turd in the punch bowl (p.154)." The fact that there were genetic markers which linked the HeLa strain inextricably to the cultures which were believed to be pure and unique made scientists realize, however that they needed to be more careful about contamination of their samples, and I think the HeLa bomb was ultimately an advance for the scientific community because of that--though maybe it wasn't the advance they were hoping for.
4. What type of cancer was George Gey diagnosed with? What specific request did Gey make prior to going into surgery? Why didn’t his surgeons honor his request? Did Gey benefit or profit in any way from his participation in the research studies?
Gey was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1970, after suffering from enexplicable and profound exhaustion while fishing on the Potomac with some colleagues from Hopkins (p. 170). His final major request was that samples be taken from his tumor, and he gave his researchers specific instructions to get those samples--telling them "work all day and all night if you have to (p.171)." The surgeons working on him decided not to cut into the tumors they found in multiple places in his peritoneal cavity because they were afraid it would be fatal if they were to make an error and cut into an organ (p. 171). Gey did not benefit or profit from the research--he died without making huge amounts of money, and he did not demand any kind of compensation for cell samples when he sent them to colleagues--he just wanted them to be able to do research based on his own findings, and to benefit the medical and scientific research communities in a knowledge capacity--it doesn't seem like he was ever motivated by money.
9. Why did Deborah choose not to request a copy of her mother’s medical records? In spite of her deliberate decision to not read her mother’s medical records, Deborah Lacks still learned extremely upsetting details about her mother’s illness and autopsy. Describe how Deborah found out about her mother’s painful death. How did Deborah react after reading about her mother’s death?
Deborah did not request her mother's medical records because she was afraid to discover something that would upset her, or that she didn't want to know in the first place (p. 209). Finally, she read a portion of a book by Michael Gold, detailing the way Henrietta had died, and her autopsy results, published publicly without permission from the family or from Henrietta herself (p. 209). After she discovered how her mother had died, and how her organs had looked like they were covered in little pearls of tumor, she "fell apart (p. 210)." She cried for days, she grew anxious about the excruciating pain her mother must have suffered while she was in the final stages of her life, and she was swept into anger at the hospital and her family, for divulging those secrets of how awful her mother's condition was toward the end (p.210).
12. Explain the Hayflick limit. Why are HeLa cells able to live beyond the Hayflick limit?
The Hayflick Limit is a phenomenon of biological cell division, discovered by Leonard Hayflick, and published in a 1961 paper which stated that normal cells have essentially 50 duplications before their telomeres were eventually whittled down to nothing, stopping further ability to replicate and thus ending the cell line (p. 216, 217). According to Skloot, a discovery made by Yale scientists shows that cancer cells have "an enzyme called telomerase that rebuilds their telomeres (p. 217)." This means that the telomeres in cancerous cells do not get whittled down, and stand a better chance of being able to replicate in culture ad infinitum because their telomeres can be regenerated (p. 217).
I think Skloot puts it best: "Gartler's findings did not go over well (p.153)." Scientists resisted this finding at first, then gradually accpeted that their cell culture lines were contaminated, and realized that they had spent countless research hours and dollars on what were essentially HeLa hybrids that they thought were unique cultures. According to Robert Stevenson, as quoted by Skloot, the devastation that the scientific community felt regarding this revelation was akin to the mortification and embarrassmen of "drop[ping] a turd in the punch bowl (p.154)." The fact that there were genetic markers which linked the HeLa strain inextricably to the cultures which were believed to be pure and unique made scientists realize, however that they needed to be more careful about contamination of their samples, and I think the HeLa bomb was ultimately an advance for the scientific community because of that--though maybe it wasn't the advance they were hoping for.
4. What type of cancer was George Gey diagnosed with? What specific request did Gey make prior to going into surgery? Why didn’t his surgeons honor his request? Did Gey benefit or profit in any way from his participation in the research studies?
Gey was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1970, after suffering from enexplicable and profound exhaustion while fishing on the Potomac with some colleagues from Hopkins (p. 170). His final major request was that samples be taken from his tumor, and he gave his researchers specific instructions to get those samples--telling them "work all day and all night if you have to (p.171)." The surgeons working on him decided not to cut into the tumors they found in multiple places in his peritoneal cavity because they were afraid it would be fatal if they were to make an error and cut into an organ (p. 171). Gey did not benefit or profit from the research--he died without making huge amounts of money, and he did not demand any kind of compensation for cell samples when he sent them to colleagues--he just wanted them to be able to do research based on his own findings, and to benefit the medical and scientific research communities in a knowledge capacity--it doesn't seem like he was ever motivated by money.
9. Why did Deborah choose not to request a copy of her mother’s medical records? In spite of her deliberate decision to not read her mother’s medical records, Deborah Lacks still learned extremely upsetting details about her mother’s illness and autopsy. Describe how Deborah found out about her mother’s painful death. How did Deborah react after reading about her mother’s death?
Deborah did not request her mother's medical records because she was afraid to discover something that would upset her, or that she didn't want to know in the first place (p. 209). Finally, she read a portion of a book by Michael Gold, detailing the way Henrietta had died, and her autopsy results, published publicly without permission from the family or from Henrietta herself (p. 209). After she discovered how her mother had died, and how her organs had looked like they were covered in little pearls of tumor, she "fell apart (p. 210)." She cried for days, she grew anxious about the excruciating pain her mother must have suffered while she was in the final stages of her life, and she was swept into anger at the hospital and her family, for divulging those secrets of how awful her mother's condition was toward the end (p.210).
12. Explain the Hayflick limit. Why are HeLa cells able to live beyond the Hayflick limit?
The Hayflick Limit is a phenomenon of biological cell division, discovered by Leonard Hayflick, and published in a 1961 paper which stated that normal cells have essentially 50 duplications before their telomeres were eventually whittled down to nothing, stopping further ability to replicate and thus ending the cell line (p. 216, 217). According to Skloot, a discovery made by Yale scientists shows that cancer cells have "an enzyme called telomerase that rebuilds their telomeres (p. 217)." This means that the telomeres in cancerous cells do not get whittled down, and stand a better chance of being able to replicate in culture ad infinitum because their telomeres can be regenerated (p. 217).
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