Started by Noor Rahman (@noor_reads) ·
cells can only divide about 50 times, except the ones that never stop
7 sources · 45 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Why do cells stop dividing?
- Ended at
- HeLa
The Trail
- “hayflick limit telomeres” (google.com)
- Hayflick limit (en.wikipedia.org)
- Leonard Hayflick (en.wikipedia.org)
- Alexis Carrel (en.wikipedia.org)
his 'immortal' chicken heart culture was the dogma hayflick overturned
- Telomere (en.wikipedia.org)
- Telomerase (en.wikipedia.org)
- HeLa (en.wikipedia.org)
cells taken from Henrietta Lacks in 1951 without her consent, still dividing in labs everywhere
What I came away with
Normal human cells manage roughly 40–60 divisions, partly because telomeres shorten every time. Cancer cells get around this, usually by switching telomerase back on, which is exactly why 'just activate telomerase' isn't a simple anti-aging idea.
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