why are Henrietta Lacks cells so important?

Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was the unwitting donor of cells from her cancerous tumor that was biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer of uterus at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. These cells were cultured by George Otto Gey to create the first human immortal cell line, now known as the HeLa cell line, which is still used for medical research.

The cells Hela come from a cervical cancer from the uterus and the first signs went to George Gey the 8 of February the 1951. Some days before the 1 of February, Henrietta was hospitalized in the hospital Johns Hopkin. She was 30 years and she presented little bleedings between the periods of pain. The exam showed a lesion of 2.5 cm of diameter. These cells were used to create an immortal line of cells.

They are the first cells of our species that were grown in the laboratory. So the scientists needed to know how our cells function technique, they investigated the causes of many diseases and tested treatments to cure them.

It is also true that Gey never sought personal enrichment. He donated cells to the scientific community and sent a sample who requested it. He sought, with no other intention, the development of science and, particularly, in medicine.