preview

Did George Gey Contribute To Henrietta's Cultured Cells?

Decent Essays
Open Document

Dr. George Gey was responsible for Henrietta’s treatment and as a result, gave him access to her cells; this allowed Gey to carry out tests on Henrietta’s cancer cells without her knowledge. This led to George Gey taking and culturing Henrietta’s without permission. That’s when Gey noticed something unusual about the cells, Henrietta’s cultured cells began to expand at a rapid rate, “They kept growing like nothing anyone had seen, doubling their numbers every twenty-four hours, stacking hundreds on top of hundreds, accumulating by the millions” (page 57). This demonstrates the growth of Henrietta’s cells and the importance of this discovery. Gey told his closest colleagues about his discovery which led to him distributing the cells to different

Get Access