NIH Approves First Uses of HeLa Genome
By Ewen Callaway,
Nature
| 09. 17. 2013
A US National Institutes of Health (NIH) committee
approved the first uses of genomic data from the HeLa cell line on 16 September. The
HeLa Genome Data Access Working Group includes representatives of the family of Henrietta Lacks, the African American woman whose fatal cervical tumour gave rise to the HeLa cell line in 1951.
The announcement follows several months of negotiations between Lacks family members and NIH leadership, including director Francis Collins. The talks resulted in an agreement in which researchers must seek permission to use HeLa genome data generated by independent teams at the University of Washington in Seattle and the European Molecular Biology Lab in Heidelberg, Germany (see ‘
Deal done over HeLa cell line‘).
The working group received six requests; it recommended four for approval and sought further information on the other two. Intellectual-property rights figured prominently in the decisions. The working group asks researchers to disclose any plans to develop intellectual property or commercial products from the HeLa genome data. Scientists must also agree to use the data only for biomedical research (ancestry and...
Related Articles
By Yelena Biberman and Jonathan D. Moreno, Bioethics Forum | 04.16.2024
A quiet biological revolution in warfare is underway. The genome is emerging as a new domain of conflict. The level of destruction that only nuclear weapons could previously achieve is fast becoming as accessible as a cyberattack.
Now for the...
By Jorge Barrera and Rachel Houlihan, CBC | 04.09.2024
A Canadian DNA laboratory knowingly delivered prenatal paternity test results that routinely identified the wrong biological fathers — ruling out the real dads — and left a trail of shattered lives around the globe, a CBC News investigation has found...
By Timnit Gebru and Émile P. Torres, First Monday | 04.14.2024
The stated goal of many organizations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), an imagined system with more intelligence than anything we have ever seen. Without seriously questioning whether such a system can...
By Carey Gillan, UnSpun | 03.18.2024
A Mexican standoff with the United States turned into a Mexican smack-down this month with the release of Mexico’s formal rebuttal to US efforts to overturn limits Mexico has ordered on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn and the...