Stanley Gartler, PhD, a molecular biologist, geneticist and cancer research “pioneer,” died May 25 at age 102, according to a July 4 report from The New York Times.
Dr. Gartler was professor emeritus at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he joined the division of medical genetics and the department of genetics when they were established, in 1957 and 1960, respectively.
In 1965, Dr. Gartler was part of the team whose genetic research showed that cancer tumors originate and multiply from a single cell. That same year, Dr. Gartler uncovered evidence that supposedly independent cell cultures — used in laboratories across the U.S. — had been contaminated by the HeLa human cell line of Henrietta Lacks.
Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951. Genetic information from a tissue biopsy performed at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins was subsequently used for research without her consent or her family’s knowledge.
Dr. Gartler presented his discovery at a conference in 1966, leading to improved quality control measures for laboratory research and improved cell line authentication, the Times report said.
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