The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot follows the story of the famous HeLa cell line, introducing us to the woman behind these cells, the family she came from, and how her cells swept the field of science. This book tells the story of how race, poverty, and the practices used in the fields of science and medicine in the last 100 years has led to the many of the modern day innovations we have, all thanks to the HeLa cells. In 1951, a young black woman admitted herself into Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to have doctors look at what she described as a knot on her womb. It turned out Henrietta had an aggressive case of cervical cancer, and almost 9 months after first visiting Hopkins, she died at the age of 31. Before she died, the doctors treating her had taken samples of her tumor and sent them to a man named George Gey who also worked in Hopkins, but was working to create the first “immortal” line of human cells in hopes of helping cancer research. Gey’s lab worked to grow and sustain cells in culture, using cervical cancer tissue samples from numerous women admitted into Hopkins. Although these women’s tissues were being used, it’s very likely that most, if not all, had no idea their tissues and cells were being used. This was the case with Henrietta’s tissue samples. Labeled “HeLa” for the abbreviation of her name, Henrietta’s cells became the first human cells to grow successfully in culture, and soon became known around the world. Gey’s lab sent samples of these HeLa cells all across the globe, eventually leading to the standardization of the field of cell culture. The HeLa cells popularity quickly grew, and soon they were being mass produced, setting the foundation for many of the big biotech companies we have today. The cells use in studies and research led to many big steps in science