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How the ‘groundbreaking’ Henrietta Lacks settlement could change research

Thermo Fisher Scientific and Lacks’s family reach a deal over the unethical use of her cells.
  1. Anil Oza
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  2. Mariana Lenharo
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Earlier this week, the biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific reached a settlement with the family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who had cells taken from her and used for research without consent more than 70 years ago. The cervical cancer cells, removed during Lacks’s treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and known as HeLa cells, were shared widely because of their ability to survive and divide indefinitely in the laboratory — and have led to numerous scientific discoveries. Eventually, they made their way into the hands of companies such as Thermo Fisher in Waltham, Massachusetts, which sells products derived from the cells.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02479-8

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 04 August 2023: An earlier version of this story stated that cell biologist Samara Reck-Peterson is located at the University of California (UC), San Francisco. She is at UC San Diego. An earlier version of this story also implied that Reck-Peterson’s lab considered how to use HeLa cells ethically after HHMI made its donation to the Lacks Foundation. It was before this gift.

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