See the Trailer for HBO’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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In 1951, Henrietta Lacks made a trip to Johns Hopkins University to receive treatment for cervical cancer, and without her knowledge or permission, cells were harvested from her body and made available to researchers. In the decades since, her unusually hearty cell line has appeared in tens of thousands of scientific papers, and contributed to advancements in virology, polio vaccines, live cell transport, cloning, and much more. Now Henrietta Lacks’s story is headed to HBO with the network’s adaptation of the best-selling book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Neither Lacks nor her family were ever told about Henrietta’s gargantuan contributions to medical science — the cell line was referred to only as HeLa — and in the movie, Oprah Winfrey will play her justice-seeking daughter looking to cement her mother’s legacy. She’s joined by Rose Byrne, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Courtney B. Vance. Get ready to be hit by the feelings train. It’s coming in fast.

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See the Trailer for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks