Modern collection and storage of biological samples make possible a kind of “immortality” for anyone who has ever had a saliva sample frozen for genealogical testing or a blood sample stored in medical collections. New technologies, like CRISPR for gene editing, expand possible future uses of biological materials stored around the world. The story of Henrietta Lacks, popularized in a book by Rebecca Skloot and an HBO special starring Oprah Winfrey, illustrates the ways that a single person’s cells and tissues can take on lives of their own as research material. In 1953, just before her death, Lacks’s cancer cells yielded the oldest and most common human cell line still used in research.
There has been significant public interest in her remarkable story, but the “immortality” of people like Henrietta Lacks raises pressing questions for all of us. Who owns and controls bodily materials extracted from research subjects and patients? Who can profit from the cells and genes that make us who we are? How do we weigh the value of personal privacy and an individual’s sense of self against the potential for medical progress? How do imbalances of wealth and power influence questions of consent, exploitation, and identity for people who provide biological materials?
Join us for a lively discussion with three scholars whose work has explored the history and contemporary issues surrounding the immortal lives of our cells, tissues, and other biological materials.
This event is free and open to the public.
Support for this program has been generously provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
