News about Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks' family has filed a new lawsuit against a California-based pharmaceutical corporation for profiting from her cells. Although the mother-of-five died at the age of 31, her genetic information survived after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital obtained a sample of her cancer cells. The gyro were praised for being the first to grow and reproduce in lab dishes on a regular basis. Her genetic information became a pillar of modern medicine, allowing for a slew of scientific and medical advancements, including the creation of the polio vaccine, genetic mapping, and even COVID-19 shots. According to the complaint, more than 100 companies have profited from using HeLa cells, but the Lacks family has never been compensated.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Scientific Company has settled a federal lawsuit brought by Henrietta Lacks' family over the use of her tissue obtained without authorization at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s. Civil rights advocate Ben Crump announced that they had reached a confidential deal with the biotech firm, the world's largest designer of scientific tools, more than 70 years after doctors took Lacks' cervical cells without her knowledge.