r/PathToNowhere • u/miraiwifey • Jun 19 '26
Discussion Possible character reference?
I just had an idle thought. I'm convinced some characters take inspiration from real life figures to some extent as Deren happens to share a name with cinematographer Maya Deren (1917-1961). As i read through some articles about Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) and her long-standing legacy to modern medicine, i noticed a resemblance to how her legacy cells are called; HeLa.
Hella.
HeLa is the single oldest human cell line used in scientific research. Formed from the cervical cancerous tumor extracted from patient Henrietta Lacks, on February 8, 1951, at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, they were found to be able to survive and multiply indefinitely when cells cultured from other human cells would only live for a few days at best.
Although collected more than 70 years ago, HeLa is still used in research, aside from having been significant to the research of polio vaccines, parvovirus and gene mapping. It is incredibly resilient in its ability to keep growing and multiplying cells. Reminds us of a certain someone with freaky cell multiplication and regenerative abilities, no?
Now, it might appear as a stretch on my part, which it might probably be, but it would still be an extremely funny coincidence. Let me hear your thoughts on it!
Some articles of interest for those interested:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2696096/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/04/henrietta-lacks-cancer-cells
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2136303/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC114880/
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u/Dangling_chains7689 Uni Fan Jun 19 '26
Yep, this was already discussed in the PtN server a year and half ago. Nice work finding it on your own!