George Otto Gey

George Otto Gey (July 6, 1899 – November 8 1970) was the scientist who propagated the HeLa cell line. His name was pronounced "guy".

Biography

He was born in Pennsylvania, and both his parents were born in Germany. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1921 and then taught zoology there. Around 1926 he married Margaret K. (1900-1989), who was from Wisconsin. By 1930 they were living on Saint Paul Street in Baltimore, and in the 1950s they started the Tissue Culture Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Using a sample from the cervix of Henrietta Lacks provided by Jake Shapiro, he propagated her cells into an immortalized human cell line.

George Gey is also credited for creating the roller drum. This machine was one of the first to help nurture cell cultures. The roller drum consisted of various holes where tissues and their appropriate growth substances were allocated. The drum spun in order to mix the substances and once an hour allow the cultures to be exposed to the environment until the drum rolled again and rebathed the cells in liquid. Gey is also noted to be one of the first to document cell division and growth on film. He devised a special contraption that stood twelve feet in length from spare parts at a nearby junkyard.

References

* Fedoroff, S. (1971). "George Otto Gey. 1899-1970." Anat Rec 171(1): 127-128.
* Hanks, J. H. and F. B. Bang (1971). "Dr. George Otto Gey 1899-1970." In Vitro 6(4): 3-4.
* Harvey, A. M. (1975). "Johns Hopkins, the birthplace of tissue culture: the story of Ross G. Harrison"
* Warren Y. Lewis, and George O. Gey. Johns Hopkins Med J 136(3): 142-149.
* Jones, H. W., Jr., V. A. McKusick, et al. (1971). "George Otto Gey (1899-1970). The HeLa cell and a reappraisal of its origin." Obstet Gynecol 38(6): 945-949.
* Skloot, R.; [http://www.umc.pitt.edu/pittmag/mar2001/culture.html|Obsessed With Culture: George Gey and his quest to cure cancer, with the help of Henrietta Lacks] (2001).

External links

* [http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/sgml/gey.html Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions]