Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine released early design plans for an on-campus building project earlier this week. Henrietta Luxa Baltimore County woman whose cells have advanced medicine around the world.
The plans were presented Thursday during a meeting of the Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Board for City of Baltimore Planning.
This marks an important milestone in the building project, which will continue design work until the end of the year.
“The architectural design of the building, named after Henrietta Lux, reflects Johns Hopkins’ commitment to proudly honor and celebrate Mrs. Lux’s extraordinary legacy on campus,” said the president of Johns Hopkins University. said. Ron Daniels Said. “We are delighted to share these plans with the city’s Design and Architecture Advisory Board, and look forward to continuing to work closely with the Baltimore community and the Henrietta Lux family as this important project moves forward.” increase.”
The approximately 34,000-square-foot new building in East Baltimore is adjacent to the historic building, Dearing Hall. Berman Bioethics InstituteLocated on the corner of Ashland and Rutland Avenues in the heart of Baltimore’s Eager Park community, the building supports the interdisciplinary and complementary programs of the Berman Institute, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and other university departments. To do. It will include flexible programs and classroom spaces to support teaching and research, as well as meeting spaces for community use.
“It’s exciting to see what a building named in honor of my grandmother, Henrietta Lux, looks like from the outside that captures her legacy.” It’s nice to see the member with Henrietta Lux Henrietta Lux Building Advisory Board“This design reflects not only her strong and beautiful spirit, but the important role she plays in the history and future of East Baltimore.”
“This design reflects not only her strong and beautiful spirit, but the important role she plays in the history and future of East Baltimore.”
Jeri Lux Wai
Granddaughter of Henrietta Lux
Added Jeffrey KahnDirector of the Berman Institute: “This important building greatly expands our teaching, academic and community-building capacities, and inspires efforts to address inequalities in biomedical research and health care, giving it its prominent name.” It is an additional tribute to the origin of the
Construction is scheduled to begin next year. Johns Hopkins also announced that the building will be completed in his 2025 with an opening ceremony planned. Building progress updates will be available online.
Victor Vines, President of Vines Architecture, and Robert Thomas, Design Director of Vines Architecture, said they look forward to sharing more progress on the design and building.
“The representation of this building is as unique to its environment as Henrietta Lux was to this world, a unique African-American. We have been working to design a building with a very special identity: a warrant bearing the name of Henrietta Lux,” Vines and Thomas said in a statement. “As we move forward with the design, we believe this building will continue to be an important way to share the story of Henrietta Lux for generations to come.”
Lux is a 31-year-old African-American mother from Baltimore County who was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the early 1950s. Doctors diagnosed her with cervical cancer, and as her medical records show, she underwent treatment, including the best treatment available at the time for this dreaded disease. She died in October 1951.
A sample of Lux’s cancer cells was recovered during a biopsy at a tissue laboratory near George Gay, a cancer researcher who collected cells from patients who presented to Johns Hopkins with cervical cancer. Sent. He found that these cells were unlike any other he had seen: where other cells died, Lux’s cells survived, and the number of cells increased from his 20 to 24. Every hour he doubles. Soon after, he began sharing his cells with researchers around the world free of charge. A biopsy-originating cell line from Lacks, referred to as “HeLa” cells, has proven to be very durable and prolific. Although many additional cell lines are in use today, HeLa cells have made a unique contribution to immense medical breakthroughs in the decades since. their discovery.
In 2013, Johns Hopkins worked with members of the Lux family and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Create a contract requesting permission from a scientist to use Henrietta Lux’s genetic blueprint In NIH-funded research.
The NIH committee tasked with overseeing the use of HeLa cells now includes two members of the Lux family. The biomedical research community has also made great strides in updating research practices regarding the donation and use of tissue from patients, thanks to lessons learned from Henrietta Lux’s story.
To learn more about Henrietta Lacks and the broader impact of HeLa cells on medical research, please visit: Henrietta Lux page On the Johns Hopkins Medical University website.
