The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

“What happens when scientific progress is built from biological material taken from a person who did not know how it would be used?”

Welcome to the Novel Science series—curriculum unit frameworks designed to bridge literature, rigorous scientific inquiry, and social and environmental justice.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Cell Biology, Biotechnology, Ethics & Justice is a comprehensive, nine-week integrated unit framework that uses Rebecca Skloot’s acclaimed investigative work to examine cellular division, cancer biology, HPV host-cell integration, karyotyping, biotechnology, and genomic privacy. Moving far beyond a static history lesson, this framework investigates the ongoing intersection of science, law, and human rights—tracing Henrietta’s story from 1951 segregated Baltimore through the 2013 NIH agreement and recent federal benefit-sharing litigation.

What Makes This a "Unit Framework"?

This resource is not a scripted, one-size-fits-all lesson plan binder. I trust educators as the experts in their classrooms and communities.

This framework delivers the architectural blueprint, mathematical progressions, and pacing for your unit—the essential questions, laboratory and modeling concepts, ethical discussion circles, contemporary legal primary sources, standards alignments, and project rubrics. You retain the autonomy to adapt daily activities, readings, and investigations to reflect your students' lived realities and local environments.

What’s Inside the 9-Week Arc?

Each week pairs specific chapters of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks with targeted NGSS, CCSS-Math, and CCSS-ELA standards, inquiry questions, and lab investigations:

• Week 1: Life, Patient, Specimen, Cell (Living Cells, Biological Meaning of "Immortal," Cell Structure Modeling, Nonfiction Source Evaluation)

• Week 2: Mitosis, Cancer & the HeLa Phenomenon (Cell Cycle Checkpoints, Mitosis vs. Cancerous Proliferation, Cell Doubling Exponential Math, NIH HeLa Research Ripple Effect)

• Week 3: HPV, Mutation, Cancer & Genetic Evidence (Viral DNA Integration, Host-Virus Interactions, Karyotype Instability Labs, Comparative Research Ethics Matrix: Tuskegee, Southam, Nuremberg)

• Week 4: Science, Research Ethics & the Value of HeLa (Cell Culture, Polio Vaccine Development, Scientific Reproducibility, Contemporary Biospecimen Policy Analysis)

• Week 5: Biotechnology, Cryopreservation & Commercialization (Cell Banking Engineering Models [HS-ETS1], Benefit vs. Harm Evidence Mapping, Commercialization vs. Public Benefit)

• Week 6: Genetic Privacy, Biological Ownership & the Lawsuit (Genomic Databases, Moore v. Regents, Simulated HeLa Genome Review Board, Contemporary Litigation Case Analysis)

• Week 7: Medical Racism, Healthcare Access & Environmental Justice (Social Determinants of Health, Environmental Carcinogens, Place-Based Community Healthcare Mapping & Data Audits)

• Week 8: Storytelling, Journalism, Family, Memory & Legacy (Skloot vs. Johns Hopkins Institutional Source Comparison, Journalism Ethics Perspectives, The Three Meanings of Immortality)

• Week 9: Synthesis & Culminating Bioethics Review (The Book vs. Current Evidence Review, Collaborative 1951–Present Timeline, Final "Who Built Modern Medicine?" Socratic Seminar)

Key Features Included:

• The Integrated Math & Science Progression: Seamlessly links biological phenomena to quantitative modeling—including cell doubling calculations, publication growth trends, two-way frequency tables, and distinguishing correlation from causation in health disparities.

• The Final "Bioethics Autopsy": A recurring evaluative tool where students classify complex historical and contemporary events as Scientifically Accurate, Historically Documented, Ethically Contested, Legally Contested, or Currently Unresolved.

• Up-to-Date Legal & Policy Case Studies: Connects the text directly to modern legal benchmarks, including the 2013 NIH-Lacks Family Agreement and contemporary federal opinions (Lacks v. Ultragenyx) regarding unjust enrichment and benefit-sharing.

• Place-Based Community Health Audits: Practical fieldwork guidance prompting students to map local health infrastructure, transportation access, and environmental hazard proximities within their own ZIP codes.

• Culminating Performance Task (The Henrietta Lacks Bioethics & Science Review): Multidisciplinary case file synthesizing biology, mathematics, law, ethics, justice, and narrative structure, featuring multiple student choice presentation formats (case files, podcasts, documentaries, community briefings).

• Complete Multi-Disciplinary Standards Alignment: Threaded alignments for NGSS Life Science and Engineering Design, CCSS High School Mathematics (Functions, Statistics & Probability, Quantities), and CCSS-ELA 9–10 reading, writing, and technical subject standards.

What You Receive:

Upon purchase, you will receive a downloadable PDF containing direct access to the master Google Drive files. Simply make an editable copy directly to your own Drive to tailor, differentiate, and pace the framework according to your school calendar and classroom needs.