The Carleton Prize For Biotechnology

Who has the right to our body, either its parts, or the biomaterial taken for analyses: we, doctors, or scientists? For the first time, it was succeeded to cultivate ‘immortal’ cells of a human body in the 1950s. It literally turned all medical science. HeLa cells helped to develop poliomyelitis vaccines, to open secrets of cancer diseases, viruses and influence of nuclear explosion; they helped to take important steps in studying of artificial insemination, cloning and creation of genetic maps.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor, black woman who died of cervical cancer in the fifties. Her cells were taken from her during surgery, without her knowledge. However, back then there were no laws about informed consent and the mindset was entirely different. Researchers knew little about cells and how they function. Her immortal cells allowed researchers to have an ample amount of resources to be able to study cells and later on develop vaccines and treatments for many diseases. Even though her cells were cancerous, they still shared many basic characteristics of a normal cell, which allowed researchers to learn a lot about a cell’s basic function. Her story explains how medical research has developed and how health care has progressed over the past sixty years.

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

Medical science has advanced tremendously from studying Henrietta Lacks’s cells by developing a vaccine that cured polio. For example, scientist used Henrietta Lack’s cells in the development of drugs that have proven successful in treating Parkinson’s disease, herpes, and influenza. In addition, scientists sent Henrietta Lacks’ cells up into space to see what would happen to human cells in a zero-gravity environment.

In the 1950’s there was a woman named Henrietta Lacks who had a condition of cervical cancer. She went to the doctors and one of them took her cells without her consent. The scientist started to do test on her cells that they extracted from Henrietta. They sent her cells to space to perform test and gather research on the effect of space travel on cells. They conducted all kinds of experiments oh her cells for all different kinds of diseases in order to find an antidote. Henrietta’s family had no idea what was going on, that her cells were being grown, multiplied and tested on. Henrietta later died in the hospital, her cancer cells lived on. With more research being conducted more scientist found solutions to some of the world’s diseases.

“The scientific enterprise is all about failure; I mean, you learn so much from failure. And you learn almost nothing from success.” This scientist is stating that one cannot gain any knowledge without failing. This is not true. Once one obtains success one now knows exactly what to do to achieve success, thus opening doors and further experiences for them. The novel “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, due to the success of tissue culture researcher Dr. George Gey can further dispute this quote. His success in tissue culture led to further discoveries, and became one of the most important breakthroughs in modern medicine. The world was

The problem of poor education in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks plays an important role in two distinct ways. Firstly, the lack of education in Henrietta’s family gave rise to the notorious deception by the medical professionals at Johns Hopkins who interacted with the cells; namely, had Henrietta and/or her family been more knowledgeable, a more careful approach to her treatment could have been taken without the prospect of physicians taking advantage of them. This is unsettling, because what if Henrietta declined the extraction? What would have happened to medicine without her cells and the research following their replication? This is not to argue that she was not wrongly treated, but to pose a very important question involving the persistence of essential research: what accomplishments have been done without the patient knowing of their contribution? Ideally, after the unveiling of Henrietta’s story, the answer would be none. This pushes the level of complexity even further, because even though what happened was strictly ethical for the utilitarian, Gey undoubtedly deceived the family in doing so; one may want to dislike Gey, yet his actions led to a myriad of useful discoveries in the medical field. Secondly, the absence of a

Medical science has come a long way in the last 65 years. There have been many significant medical advances, including the development of the polio vaccine, the perfection of cell culturing techniques, the advent of medical commercialization, and progress towards understanding cancer and HIV. All of this -- and much, much more -- was made possible by one woman: Henrietta Lacks. She was an African American woman born in 1920, and by the time she died of cancer in 1951, she had made no direct contributions to the world of medicine. In fact, the thing that has since brought Henrietta’s name into the medical world was the very thing that ended up killing her. All of this was made possible by what doctors discovered inside of her tumor.

Medicine has been developed and discovered for thousands of years; however, the 1920’s was the first decade that fashioned a pathway for new developments and discoveries. Medical professionals have taken a huge hit for their fight in finding new inventions that can save patients from death’s hands. In the 1920’s, medicine has also taken a tremendous leap in controlling fatal diseases such as diabetes (Pendergast 110). Medicine in the 1920’s has altered the way medicine is shaped today; furthermore, the development and discovery of the iron lung, penicillin, and insulin were the first pertinent breakthroughs in medical history (“Iron” par. 7; Grimsley par. 15; “Banting” par. 13).

Technology has improved the human species by providing information around the world, leading to developments in different countries. Biotechnology is improving the world of medicine, agriculture, and energy production. In the medical world, technology has a big impact by helping scientists and doctors figure out how to fight off diseases and viruses. For example, there are two individuals, one who has malaria and the other has built up a resistance to malaria. Knowing that an individual has built up resistance to malaria can help, simply by taking a sample of their blood

Every so often, a breakthrough scientific discovery is uncovered that completely changes the way we view the world. Typically, at the slightest hint of revolutionary data, the media immediately broadcasts the forthcoming of a brand new wave of science that keeps everyone on the edge of their seat. There is one story, however, that did indeed change the world of science but took decades to surface. This intricate story is described in the award-winning book, “The Immortal of Henrietta Lacks”.

Located in South San Francisco, CA, Genentech was started in 1976 by a biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer and Robert A. Swanson. From 1995-2009 Arthur Levinson had become the CEO of Genentech; presently it is Ian T. Clark. Genentech is a leading biotechnology company, using human genetic information to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize medicines to treat people with serious or life-threatening medical conditions (2014). Biotechnology is the technology based on the science of cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help improve peoples’ lives and the health of our environment. How biotechnology uses cellular and biomolecular processes are by using molecular mechanisms by which genetic and

There have been many advances in the medical field such as; anesthesia, drugs, machines, etc. This has helped the doctors find alternative solutions to problems, and in return has helped them save more lives. In the article “Medicine” by Britannica, “Many new advances in anesthesia, and these in turn depend upon engineers who have devised machines and chemists produced new drugs. Other operations are made possible by new materials, such as the alloys and plastics that are used to make artificial hip and knee joints.” Advances in the medical field have truly helped modern doctors. Without the medicine, machines, technology they have now there’s no way the doctors could have saved the same amount of lives. As Brian Ward, the author of “The Story of Medicine”, states in his book, “Despite opposition, revolutionary scientists and doctors persevered and made some ground breaking discoveries,” (Ward 22). Even though the doctors during the Renaissance had little technology, they still made discoveries that impacted the medical field. The discoveries made by the Renaissance doctors were life saving. However, with the given technology that is commonly found in modern day society doctors are able to impact the medical and scientific fields and by doing so, save more lives than thought possible during the Renaissance. Within the article “Medicine” written by Britannica, it shows the importance of, “Many other developments in modern surgical treatment rest on a firm basis of experimentation, often first in animals but also in humans; among them are Renal dialysis (artificial kidney), arterial bypass operations, embryo implantation, and exchange transfusions.” Although testing on animals is cruel, it shows that modern doctors were not just experimenting on people. The modern doctors had a thought process to reduce the amount of deaths due to

Throughout the article, “The Role of Federation Programs in the Transfer of Biomedical Technology” the Associate Director National Library of Medicine presents the valid and relevant discussion on the role federal programs input into the transfer of biomedical technology by going in-depth on the link between the government and economic funding for the research of artificial organs as the pathway for future medical technology. Phillips mentions in the key concepts in presentation to support his argument that federal programs are critical for the advancements and sources possible for conducting more reliable research on artificial organs, by suggesting that the prime contributor to the opportunities posted in disseminating cutting edge research has been the American Society for Internal Organs (ASAIO). Moreover, he makes the note that federal programs have enabled the growth of (ASAIO). The author also issues the claim that in the 21st century there has been a large-scale emergence of the molecular century as was adhered by President Bush who signed the 21st Century Nanotech Research and Development Act in 2004 that committed $3.7 billion to nanotechnology research. Additionally, cost effectiveness in comparison to conventional therapy, demonstrates a higher viability of artificial organs in the long run is

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