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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What disease nearly killed Henrietta's youngest son Joe not long after her death?
(a) Polio.
(b) Scarlet fever.
(c) Pneumonia.
(d) Tuberculosis.

2. What best-selling book did Alexis Carrel publish that criticized an "error" in the U.S. Constitution of equality for all people?
(a) Man, the Unknown.
(b) Lights Out.
(c) An Error of Cells.
(d) Man and Superman.

3. Where was researcher Chester Southam the chief virologist in 1954 when he began injecting cancer patients with HeLa cells?
(a) The MIT Center for Cancer Research.
(b) The Harvard School of Medicine Center for Cancer Research.
(c) The Johns Hopkins Center for Cancer Research.
(d) Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.

4. What was the name of the BBC documentary that Courtney Speed borrowed from the library to show to Rebecca Skloot when she visited Turner Station?
(a) Man, the Unknown.
(b) HeLa: Woman Behind the Mask.
(c) An Error of Cells.
(d) The Way of All Flesh.

5. What was the central reason that the HeLa factory was developed?
(a) To fight syphilis.
(b) To fight epilepsy.
(c) To fight cancer.
(d) To fight polio.

Short Answer Questions

1. On what date did Henrietta Lacks first go to Johns Hopkins to have the knot in her womb examined?

2. When were HeLa cells fused with mouse cells to create the first animal-human hybrid cells?

3. What date was inscribed to indicate when Henrietta's mother died on her tombstone?

4. What was Henrietta Lacks's name at birth?

5. What year was it when a group of researchers at the National Institutes of Health had proven the possibility of immortal cells using mouse cells?

Short Essay Questions

1. What advancements did Alexis Carrel achieve in medical progress during his career?

2. How did Henrietta meet David Lacks? How did their early relationship develop?

3. How is Henrietta Lacks's early childhood described in the book? When and where was she born? Where did she grow up?

4. What did Henrietta's doctors at Johns Hopkins find during her repeated visits in June of 1951?

5. What was the objective for Dr. Richard TeLinde in using cancer cells and samples from Howard Jones in his research?

6. How did Deborah Lacks respond to Rebecca Skloot when she first called her? What information did Rebecca learn from this call?

7. Why were HeLa cells useful in the study of virology and research into diseases? Was the malignant nature of the cells a factor?

8. How does the author describe the setting of "Lacks Town" when she first visited in 1999?

9. What role did Bobbette take in the family after marrying Lawrence? Why?

10. Who established the first distribution center for HeLa cells? Where was it established?

(see the answer keys)

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