The immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks - Robin Bulleri
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/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...
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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. Let's take a step back for a second. Scientists grow human cells in the lab to study how they function, understand how diseases develop, and test new treatments without endangering patients. To make sure that they can repeat these experiments over and over, and compare the results with other scientists, they need huge populations of identical cells that can duplicate themselves faithfully for years, but until 1951, all human cell lines that researchers tried to grow had died after a few days. Then a...
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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. Let's take a step back for a second. Scientists grow human cells in the lab to study how they function, understand how diseases develop, and test new treatments without endangering patients. To make sure that they can repeat these experiments over and over, and compare the results with other scientists, they need huge populations of identical cells that can duplicate themselves faithfully for years, but until 1951, all human cell lines that researchers tried to grow had died after a few days. Then a...
