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 Margaux MacColl, The San Francisco Standard | 09.17.2025
Designer babies are coming soon to an IVF clinic near you.
Nucleus Genomics, founded by Kian Sadeghi in 2020, when he was just 20, got its start analyzing genomes to weigh a person’s risk of everything from cancer to ADHD...
By Johana Bhuiyan, The Guardian | 09.23.2025
In March 2021, a 25-year-old US citizen was traveling through Chicago’s Midway airport when they were stopped by US border patrol agents. Though charged with no crime, the 25-year-old was subjected to a cheek swab to collect their DNA, which...
By Annika Inampudi, Science | 08.01.2025
In June, Sara* received a message asking whether she wanted to continue to participate in a massive, multicenter research project led by scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark. The iPsych study, the message said, had sequenced her genetic data from...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...