Year 10 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 22

The Immortal Cell Line, Henrietta Lacks and the Ethics of Continued Use

Foundation Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Recall what a cell line is and what makes one immortal.
State the key facts of how the HeLa cell line was obtained in 1951.
Name the three ethical principles and match each to the HeLa case.

Warm Up

Match each term to its definition

Draw a line connecting each term on the left to its definition on the right. Or write the matching letter next to each term.

Term	Your answer	Definition
Telomere		A. Agreement given by a person who has been told what will be done and why, and who is free to refuse.
Telomerase		B. A repetitive protective cap at the end of a chromosome that shortens each time a cell divides.
Informed consent		C. A population of cells grown outside a body that can be kept alive and divided into new containers.
Cell line		D. The enzyme that rebuilds telomere caps, switched off in most adult body cells.

True or false, circle your answer:

Henrietta Lacks agreed to give her cells to research.	T / F
Most human cells stop dividing after about 40 to 60 divisions.	T / F
The Lacks family were told about the cells within a year.	T / F
HeLa cells were used during the development and testing of the polio vaccine.	T / F

Your Turn

Sort it!

Write each statement from the pool into the correct column: does it support continued use of HeLa, oppose it, or is it a neutral fact?

The cells helped test the polio vaccine Henrietta Lacks was never asked The family were not told until 1973 HeLa cells divide faster than most cultured cells Destroying the cells would not restore her choice Companies sell HeLa cells commercially The cells came from a cervical tumour Her genome was published in 2013 without consent Research on HeLa continues to benefit patients

Supports continued use

Opposes continued use

Neutral fact

Show What You Know

1. What does it mean to call a cell line "immortal"? Do not just say that it lives forever.

Recall 2 marks

2. State two facts about how the HeLa cells were obtained in 1951.

Recall 2 marks

3. Name the three ethical principles from Lesson 10, and for each write which side of the HeLa debate it supports.

Recall 3 marks

Wrap Up

In one sentence, why is "she donated her cells" the wrong way to describe this case?