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Can cells live forever?
Leonard Hayflick
Scientist
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Views | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41. The world's first live virus vaccine | 93 | 00:35 | |
| 42. Jonas Salk | 104 | 00:43 | |
| 43. Creating sterile rooms | 58 | 01:43 | |
| 44. 'The golden era of virology' | 62 | 02:43 | |
| 45. The early days of cytogenetics | 59 | 02:04 | |
| 46. Working with cancer-causing viruses | 77 | 02:05 | |
| 47. Studies of normal human tissue | 87 | 01:18 | |
| 48. The immortality of cancer cells | 131 | 01:55 | |
| 49. Can cells live forever? | 148 | 01:15 | |
| 50. How to isolate your own cells | 86 | 02:28 |
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At the turn of the century, when cell culture began, it was thought over a period of several decades that when cells are put in culture, they have the innate property of immortality, just like bacteria. If you put a bacteria in culture, you can carry it, that is you can transfer it from test tube to test tube, or culture to culture, for ever, essentially forever. And that philosophy was carried over to the field of cell culture and I was exposed to that philosophy and accepted it, like everyone else did. However, most of the cultures that were set during this 60-year period that is prior to my work... the cells that were cultured failed to grow, or to replicate beyond several passages, that is removal of the cells from one culture vessel to another when they fill the floor of the first culture vessel.
Leonard Hayflick (b. 1928), the recipient of several research prizes and awards, including the 1991 Sandoz Prize for Gerontological Research, is known for his research in cell biology, virus vaccine development, and mycoplasmology. He also has studied the ageing process for more than thirty years. Hayflick is known for discovering that human cells divide for a limited number of times in vitro (refuting the contention by Alexis Carrel that normal body cells are immortal), which is known as the Hayflick limit, as well as developing the first normal human diploid cell strains for studies on human ageing and for research use throughout the world. He also made the first oral polio vaccine produced in a continuously propogated cell strain - work which contributed to significant virus vaccine development.
Title: Can cells live forever?
Listeners: Christopher Sykes
Christopher Sykes is a London-based television producer and director who has made a number of documentary films for BBC TV, Channel 4 and PBS.
Tags: cell culture, immortality, bacteria, culture vessel
Duration: 1 minute, 15 seconds
Date story recorded: July 2011
Date story went live: 08 August 2012
