The Curious Contamination

Scientists knew that it was important to keep their cultures free of contamination, but "when it came to HeLa, they had no idea what they were up against. It turned out Henrietta's cells could float through the air on dust particles" (Skloot 153).

When geneticist Stanley Gartler, learned the racial origin of HeLa from Dr. Gey, it went on to create a huge effect in the scientific community. His discovery helped to show that it was in fact possible for cells to travel to other cultures very quickly. He was able to understand this process because of a rare genetic marker known as, G6PD-A which was only ever present in black Americans (Skloot 153). The HeLa cells were shown to transfer by unwashed hands, lab coats, shoes, and also research found that if just a single cell was to land on a different culture dish, it was strong enough to consume all that was there (Skloot 153). This finding by Dr. Gartler was presented at a conference which was not accepted with positive review because it meant that over a decade, scientists had spent millions of dollars on scientific research with only HeLa cells. This meant that all the time and effort spent growing and experimenting on the cells was a waste. After his discussion at the Cell Culture Collection Committee meeting, numerous scientists went back to their laboratories to test cells for the genetic marker to find out how big this problem could be. The overall factor across the world many of the cells tested positive with G6PD-A and this mass contamination became known as “the HeLa bomb” (Skloot 156).   

Word Count: 228

Skloot, Rebecca. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" New York. Broadway Paperbacks, Crown Publishing, 2010. Print.