David HF Jeffrey: Are Skins Cells People, Too?
No, skin cells are not people, too. At least that what I came to understand about clinical and diagnostic laboratory testing. During the summer of 2021, I interned at Greenwood Genetic Center (GGC) in the clinical cytogenetic lab. The cytogenetic lab is tasked with looking for large scale genetic mutation that would affect chromosomes. Often the lab was tasked to confirm ailments such as Trisomy 21 (aka Down syndrome) or make other genetic diagnosis. The main use of the lab was doing DNA analysis from samples taken from patients. Primary the lab worked on blood samples, but the lab also performed diagnostics on skin cells.
Skin cells offered a secondary source of diagnostics if the blood sample test failed. This also allowed the technician to directly analyze any skin-based attributes (cancers, moles, ectara). Skin cell testing is entirely different from blood testing because it requires the diagnostic technician to physically grow cells from a sample.
At the time I didn’t know how to feel when I was offered to dissect the skin cells. Of which I considered to be live human cells. Up to this point in my life I had only dissected deceased animals in anatomy classes. I found it very strange to be working on live skin cells versus the usual blood samples. The lab was growing cells for the purpose of study and would ultimately harm and kill them. In blood samples, the blood isn’t living or growing. These skin cells were actively undergoing mitosis (normal cell cycle growth) and completing biological functions. To me, these cells were physically alive.
My colleges in the lab treated the cell tissues as just samples. In fact, my co-worker seeing my hesitance assured me, “Don’t worry, they are just cell and not people”.
It spoke to a larger disconnect in biology as a whole: As long as ethics are followed to obtain samples, the samples just stay as samples. HeLa cells are a great example of this concept. For reference, HeLa cells are a group of self-replicating cancers cells that were taken from a single donor and have been fundamental in cancer research. Though the cells in question were taken unethically. In a scientific review by Journal of Human Genetics, it was concluded that despite HeLa cells being obtained unethically, once the ethical issues were rectified there was no longer any problems with using HeLa cells for research. Since the ethics of obtaining the cells was resolved, the cells were just cells.
Back to the moment though, I did dissect the skin cells, splitting the lump of pale-pinkish blob in half. It had a strange springy texture to it, similar in nature to soft Jell-O. After the dissection I politely left that section of the lab and did not enter the tissue lab for the rest of the internship.
At the time I dissected the cells out of peer pressure, but know I realize it has made me a better scientist. I believe my initial hesitation was due to the cells being living human cells. In the past I had only dissected animal tissues. I found it strange to work on human cells because of the ethical implication. Though I have since come to realize the wisdom in denoting the skin cells as samples. It is similar to why slaughter animals are never named; the cells have a job to do. Since they were taken ethically, the samples are just samples.
The experience allowed me to better understand the ethical tightrope that science walks. Biology in general keeps a purposeful disconnect from what is living and what is merely a sample. As ethical scientists, our job is to determine where to correctly place the line separating the ethical from the unethical. Overall, my internship demonstrated that if I plan to pursue a career in research, I need to be willing to differentiate between what is living and what is a sample.
At the time of this writing, David HF Jeffrey is a senior undergraduate student at Lander University, majoring in Biology and enrolled in the honors college. He spent the summer of 2021 interning with Greenwood Genetic Center, in the clinical cytogenetic lab. After graduating from Lander in the spring of 2020, he plans on perusing a Doctorate of Biology from the University of South Carolina.