HeLa Cells and the Polio Vaccine by Landry Dacke

All About Polio

landry_dacke — 2015-09-30 20:15:58 UTC

Polio is thought to have been one of the worst diseases to outbreak. Polio was a major threat in the 1950's and terrified the population of the U.S. and the world. Polio targets children making it especially terrifying that it targets the next generation. Polio has no visible symptoms for the first three weeks, if it is not found in time it can cause the victim to be paralyzed or die. Polio targets nerve cells that control muscles, meaning polio can warp the development of children and cause death in some who contract it becuase of the deadly side effects of having lost the ability to control certain muscles.

In 1952, a man named Jonas Salk announced on a popular radio show that he had created a cure for polio. He had done this by using HeLa cells since they could replicate continuously and were highly susceptibble to infection becuase of the combination of Syphilis and HPV that HeLa cells were exposed to in Henrietta's body.

Because of Jonas Salk and Henrietta Lacks, we have a vaccine to one of worst viruses ever, and have almost eradicated it from the United States.

joel_mangrum — 2015-10-01 00:20:04 UTC

All About HeLa Cells

landry_dacke — 2015-10-01 00:56:29 UTC

HeLa Cells originated from Henrietta Lacks, a woman who lived in 1920-50's Virginia. The cells were extracted from her cervix by George Gey, who later discovered her cells were special since they were the first virus to reproduce/ survive outside of their host cell.

Once HeLa Cells became famous, they were mass produced and sold all around the world to researchers everywhere. They were extremely important at the time, because they could be used in a vaccine against Polio.

Ever since it was discovered, HeLa cells have helped researchers learn more about cells and viruses, chemotherapy, HPV, Syphilis, Polio, how cancer cells function, and they also saved millions of lives of those infected.

Brief Summary

landry_dacke — 2015-10-01 00:57:46 UTC

HeLa cells originated from a woman named Henrietta Lacks. The term HeLa originated from the first two initials of her first and last name. This discovery was a huge discovery in the medical industry leading to the cures and vaccines of many viruses. The vaccine for Polio derived from HeLa cells. This was by far the most monumental vaccine created from the HeLa cells. Even though there has been a vaccine, Polio is still a deadly disease due to the fact that that it is extremely common in foreign countries.

HeLa Cells

landry_dacke — 2015-10-01 01:35:39 UTC

Polio Virus

joel_mangrum — 2015-10-01 01:57:11 UTC

Jonas Salk

landry_dacke — 2015-10-01 20:32:03 UTC

Henrietta Lacks

landry_dacke — 2015-10-01 20:37:18 UTC

George Gey

joel_mangrum — 2015-10-07 01:34:28 UTC