Depplab book club (Feb)--The biography of HeLa cells

 

Our book of the month is about Henrietta Lacks and the famous HeLa cells derived from the cancer that eventually killed her (thanks for the suggestion Pam!).   Lot's of interesting ethical issues here.  It all happened in Baltimore at  my beloved Johns Hopkins, and naturally people are very proud of this accomplishment but should they be?

 

 

 

Checck out this NPR interview with the author:

 

Great quote from Rita Levi-Montalcini

"Dico ai giovani: non pensate a voi stessi, pensate agli altri. Pensate al futuro che vi aspetta, pensate a quello che potete fare e non temete niente. Non temete le difficoltà: io ne ho passate molte e le ho attraversate senza paura, con totale indifferenza alla mia persona."

Translated:

"I tell young people: Do not think of yourself, think of others. Think of the future that awaits you, think about what you can do and do not fear anything. Do not fear the difficulties: I've had many in the past and I crossed without fear, with total indifference for myself."
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She posted this on her facebook page a couple days ago.  What an amazing person.  100 years old, nobel laureate, still publishing (see PNAS paper from last week), and posts on facebook....unreal.

 

 

University of Virginia
Department of Biology