Henrietta Lacks' family win recognition for immortal cell line

摘要

The family of Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose tumour cells revolutionised modern medicine, have been granted a say in how the cells are used, sixty years after her death. The National Institute of Health has announced in Nature that is has reached an agreement with Lacks' family to allow biomedical researchers controlled access to the whole genome data of cells derived from her tumour. NIH Director, Francis S. Collins, said: "Just like their matriarch, the Lacks family continues to have a significant impact on medical progress by providing access to an important scientific tool that researchers will use to study the cause and effect of many diseases with the goal of developing treatments."