Allegra Goodman’ s Intuition describe a vivid research condition in high-tech biomedical lab, which is involved in not only the scientific lab life, but more importantly the money, fame and envy work and competition in the academic circle. The whole story is about that a lab on the brink of Bankruptcy, became promising but turned out to be a national scandal in the end, because of an incomplete finding by a postdoc. And I choose the plot that one of the lab directors, Marion, was struggling with so-called perfect results as one case to analyze the wrong deed, from my perspective. (Part III Media, turn 6, from p.155 to p.160)
Under the background of the lab “The Philpott,” a scientific biological laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the researchers were going to run out of funding and they desperately needed to see results. A postdoc of them, Cliff Bannaker, who was in the edge of being out of the lab, found a marvelous result that tumor cells could be driven out of mice by RSV. Although the result showed only for the first time without repeating successfully afterwards, they published in the famous journal Nature. In this section, Marion, who was a self-strict and precise scientist, was struggling between the poor data in the repeat experiment and the stress from co-researcher Sandy’s hype and fame from the public. So Marion gave herself up, when she was infected by Sandy’s hype, and she tried to push forward the program very fast without thinking of the reality of
In his book, The Great Influenza, John M. Barry speaks of the work of scientists with the sort of reverence and respect of one who understands the complexity and greatness of their work. He uses juxtaposition and conceit to present the adversity and nobility inherent to scientific research. In addition, he portrays this research as potentially thankless work.
Inquiry Question: How does Rebecca Skloot’s depiction of prisoner experiments and research change the way we think about how early medical developments were first brought to life, and who really took the risks we should credit for them?
The doctors were uncooperative with the Lacks family, the did not fully particularize the procedure that she underwent or the effect it would have on her. Furthermore, the healthcare professionals went drastically further in violations of her rights by taking a sample of her cancer without her permission numerous on numerous accounts. This is unacceptable practices conducted by the doctors. On the other hand, these cells became the groundwork for scientists to excel, luxuriating in breakthroughs achieved. The “Hela cells” contributed a variety of science fields from a vaccine for the polio virus, cloning, and gene mapping all comes through the use of her cells. Decades after her death the cells are still being used, her accomplishments in the field were relatively unknown till a student wrote this book. Henrietta Lacks never received the recognition for her helps in the achievement of the advancement of science, however, for a feat of this size one should receive glorification. For a student to have gone out of her way for someone they barely know, above all is unbelievably heart warming. This book shows us the unethical way that doctors practiced, but it turned out to better humanity, then left to examine this struggle to generate their own presupposition. The cells taken from her, furthermore, her family never received financial support. Consequently, this should not bother anyone at
It was a cold morning in early February, Henrietta Lacks told her family, “Ain’t nothin serious wrong, she said. Doctors gonna fix me right up.” (pg. 31). She said this before going for cancer treatment. On that day, she and her family would have never known or even thought about how much her cancer cells would contribute to modern-day science.
In, “Dog Lab”, Claire McCarthy is a student as Harvard Medical School. She is strong willed with a drive to become the best doctor. Upon hearing about a “dog lab”, she became interested in what the lab had to offer. During class one day the professor introduced the lab, in which students were required to perform an operation on a living dog. This shocked McCarthy in the sense it would require her to go against her morals. This would teach her a Signiant life lesson of having to do something against you believe in for the betterment of something. McCarthy explains “The lab took all day. We cut through the dog’s skin to find an artery and vein, into which we placed catheters. We injected different drugs and chemicals and watched what happened
Every man makes mistakes, that is part of being a human being, and we can use these mistakes to learn and adapt in the future. Some blunders however, are more dire than others. When a team of scientists working at a top secret installation, who just happen to be researching a deadly new virus that came from outer space make a mistake, it can end in tragedy very quickly. In Michael Crichton’s novel The Andromeda Strain, Crichton illustrates characterization by showing us how each scientist makes a mistake that, when added up, might have concluded with the death of everyone on the team. Crichton shows that when under extreme stress, man will make mistakes based on lack of self control, general ignorance, and personal ideals.
Consent Granted In 1951, a young woman named Henrietta Lacks with cervical cancer had her tumor surgically removed by John Hopkins University. After Henrietta’s tumor was removed, the doctor performing her surgery scraped a tissue sample into a Petri dish, without her consent, to be used in medical research. What was discovered was that Henrietta’s cells were immortal; they continued to reproduce time and time again. Her cells were vital for gene mapping and to cure polio, saving millions of lives. However, if the scientists had asked for consent, Henrietta could have said no, costing millions their lives.
Somehow, Bobbette finds out that Henrietta’s cells are still alive from her friends brother in law who worked at the National Cancer Institute. Bobbette makes it a priority to tell Lawrence. Lawrence calls John Hopkins to ask about Henrietta’s cells and discovers that they have not only been alive for twenty years, but they are bought and sold. Deborah starts getting nervous that she too will die at the same time her mother, Henrietta, died and from the same cancer. “What made her mother sick? How was part of her still living? What did it mean? What did Henrietta do for science? And did all those blood tests he was doing mean Deborah was going to die young like her mother?” (187). This discovery of Henrietta’s cells take a passive toll on
In most cases, civilians have often taken modern medicine for granted, not acknowledging the fact people just like themselves developed astonishing vaccines and cures. Countless hours of researching, observing, and calculating paved the way to new breakthroughs in science. A simple question could develop into a thirst for knowledge. The desire for discovery of the unknown has led to modern day technology. In the 21st century biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot built a logical argument to reveal the potential of scientific studies and the impact new information had on society; thereby she argued for a need to educate the public on the possibilities of new scientific research.
Henrietta’s cells gave scientists the ability to create desperately needed “medical miracles” such as “polio vaccines, some cure for cancer and other things, even AIDS”(159). Contrasted with Henrietta’s suffering, Skloot introduced another side to the story. The word “miracles” implied Henrietta had special qualities that scientists had yet to find in anyone else. Her body, coupled with her doctor’s shot in the dark to grow immortal cells, spawned a magnificent period in time with many new vaccines and saved lives. The new angle on Henrietta’s story made it not only her story, but also the story of countless other people. Skloot, who originally gave people clear direction in how to feel about Henrietta’s cells, threw a curveball and made everyone step back and evaluate what they believe is right. Skloot invited people to look inside themselves and sort through the mess of emotions she created, because she wanted people to learn not only about Henrietta, but also about their own
Henrietta Lacks, a simple tobacco farmer, wife and mother of five, is seemingly unknown around the world, yet her cells have created medical history. Her cells were taken without her or her family’s knowledge, yet those cells are considered the cornerstone of medicine (MrDovekeeper). Even though some people argue that scientists would have figured how to fight deadly viruses and learn about the human cell and how it works without her cells, Henrietta Lacks ' cells have changed the world by helping scientists figure all this out.
This essay examines the involvement and actions of the doctors of the Holocaust. Using examples of experiments performed by the doctors, interviews with some of the doctors, and other evidence found during my research, I will argue that the doctors acted of their own free will and not because the Nazi government made them.
In 2001 Christoph Lengauer, an Australian researcher at Johns Hopkins, invited the Lackses family to his lab. When Deborah and her brother came Christoph brought them to a basement where they saw their “mother” for the first time, HeLa. Deborah was warming frozen test tubes of HeLa in their hands and watching as a cell divided into two under a microscope while Lengauer explained his work. Deborah pressed a cold vial to her lips. “You’re famous,” she whispered. “Just nobody knows it.” This made me realize a great deal about the people and families behind the cells researchers are using to map genomes and help the world. I didn’t have a least favorite part of the book, although I was sad when Deborah’s story was revealed, hearing of her childhood involving molestation and abuse starting at a young age made me
A woman whose cells founded a multi-million dollar industry and provided the world with treatments for diseases such as leukemia, hemophilia, influenza and countless others yet almost no one knows her name. Her true identity was in the shadows for years after her death in 1951. Little did her family know that she lived on through her cell line which is estimated to have a cumulative weight of around 50 million metric tons today. For years after her death no one knew anything more about her than the name given to her cell line: HeLa. When Rebecca Skloot heard of HeLa cells and the woman behind them in her biology class, she was immediately intrigued and proceeded to research her, Henrietta Lacks. She couldn’t find much, if any, information on the woman who supposedly helped so many people. Years later she decided to find out the truth about Henrietta Lacks, and share it with the world. In her pursuit for the truth she conducted over a thousand hours of interviews with not only the friends and family of Henrietta Lacks but with ethicists, journalists, and scientists. This book not only provides the information on the advances in science HeLa cells made but it also calls attention to the woman and the family behind those cells. This book is one of revolutionary scientific discovery and a discussion on the ethics that question the morality of them. The book itself goes into great detail of the life of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa.
In fact, it was discovered that this so called elimination meant shipping the students to a lab to be tested in a different way: as live specimens for horrid medical experiments. One person does not suffice to explain all of the treachery that this book had to offer. The best example, however, had to be the force behind the greatest defection of the story; the