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Collection GeyG : George O. Gey Collection

Description

Key

103414

Reference Code Element

GeyG

Dates

1918-1974, inclusive

Extent

15 linear feet

Creator

Personal name, Gey, Margaret K.

Personal name, Gey, George O.

Administrative/Biographical History

Margaret Finney Koudelka Gey

Margaret Finney Koudelka Gey, a laboratory technician and cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, was born in Antigo, Wisconsin. She earned a nursing degree from Wesley Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Northwestern University in 1923, and studied clinical lab techniques at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee while also working as Head Surgical Supervisor of Nursing Staff. She later studied X-ray techniques, medical bacteriology, and histology at the University of Wisconsin. In 1929, she received a diploma as a registered technician from the American Society of Pathology.

That year, she and her husband George moved to Johns Hopkins, where George Gey became director of the Finney-Howell Cancer Research Laboratory. They are credited with isolating the first human cancer cell in the 1930s. They also established the Tissue Culture Laboratory in an old janitor’s quarters at Johns Hopkins.

The Geys were pioneers in tissue culture methods and ahead of their time in the use of tissue culture to solve basic biology questions. Contributions from their laboratory include maintenance of hormone-producing organoids and cell cultures, roller tube methodology that was later used for cultivation of viruses and vaccines, and growth of cells in suspension cultures. Their lab is best known for the HeLa cell, the first line of human cancer cells to be grown continuously in tissue culture. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who died of her cancer in 1951. HeLa cells became the prototype for study and are still used today.

After her husband’s death in 1970, Gey served as an assistant in the department of pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health until her retirement. In 1977, she was honored by the Tissue Culture Association, Inc., which commissioned her portrait for the library of the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center in Lake Placid, New York. After the library closed, the portrait was donated to Johns Hopkins.

George Otto Gey
6 July 1899 - 8 November 1970

Gey, a pioneer in tissue culture, was born in Pittsburgh. He received his B.S. in 1921 from the University of Pittsburgh. He enrolled in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1922, but due to financial constraints deferred completing his medical degree. Between 1923 and 1929 Gey was a cancer research fellow at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee. While there, he met and married Margaret Finney Koudelka.

Gey returned to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1929, where he was appointed director of the Tissue Culture Laboratory in the department of surgery. Gey completed his M.D. in 1933. He served on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and School of Hygiene and Public Health and was the director of the Finney-Howell Cancer Research Laboratory at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

George and Margaret Gey developed techniques for filming and photographing cell growth within test tubes. Their research produced new developments in organ and cell culture, intracellular and membrane cytology, and in vitro investigations in endocrinology, oncology, and virology. Particular innovations included in vitro maintenance of organ and hormonal tissue, the "roller-tube" technique of cell cultivation, and nutrition of cells in tissue extracts and body fluids.

Gey's research focused on tissue samples that he obtained from various divisions of the hospital. In 1951, the department of gynecological pathology provided Gey with tissue samples from a biopsy of a cervical tumor. With these cells, Gey was able to cultivate the first continuous strain of human cell lines. The source of this strain was a tissue sample from Henrietta Lacks, a thirty-one year-old African-American patient. This cell line, named HeLa after Lacks, has since contributed to thousands of scientific studies, including the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s, and to current research on the human genome.

Gey was the founder and first president of the Tissue Culture Association. He devoted the later years of his career to advocating for tissue research. George and Margaret Gey helped found the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center in Lake Placid, New York.

Chronology

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1933-1970

Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1947-1970

Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1954-1970

Scope and Content

The George O. Gey Collection spans his entire career, with the bulk of the material from his tenure as Director of the Finney-Howell Cancer Research Laboratory. Included are correspondence with individuals, industries, granting agencies, foundations, and other organizations; grant records (including proposals, applications, budgets, and reports); laboratory progress reports; and reprints. Other professional materials include records of the Tissue Culture Association and Gey's notes and reprints. Photographic materials include images of HeLa cells and early examples of George Gey's roller tube experiments. The collection also contains a selection of personal materials, such as photographs, family correspondence, items from World War I, picture postcards, certificates, and memorabilia. In addition there are reels of motion picture film, books, surgical instruments, and laboratory equipment.

Subjects

Topic, Hela Cells

Language

English

Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access Element

This collection may contain some restricted records. Materials pertaining to patients, students, employees, and human research subjects, as well as unprocessed collections and recent administrative records, carry restrictions on access. For more information about the policies and procedures for access, see the Archives Policy on Access and Use.

Use/Reproduction Restrictions

When citing material from this collection, credit The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. For permission to reproduce images, contact the holder of the copyright.

Administration

Date(s) of Descriptions

2010-2013

Processing Information

The George Gey Collection was processed by Chesney Medical Archives student employee Katie Hindmarch-Watson in 2010-2013 with assistance from Kaitlin Warnock on the Correspondence and Subject Files and under the supervision of Phoebe Evans Letocha.

Accession

1999-013

1987-083

1987-061

1986-006

1983-055

1983-041

1982-067

1982-059

Composed Of

Found 10 record(s)

Reference Code and Titlesort by Reference Code and Title ascending	Key (Collection)sort by Key (Collection) ascending	Dates	Record Levelsort by Record Level ascending	Hierarchysort by Hierarchy ascending
1- Correspondence and Subject Files	163567		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
2- George Gey Personal Documents	163630		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
3- Grant Files	163631		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
4- Research Notes	163632		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
5- Tissue Culture Association Files	163633	1949-1967	Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
6- Publications	163634		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
7- Photographs	160421		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
8- Moving Images	163635		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
9- George Gey related Material Culture	163636		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection
10- Reprints Collected by George Gey	236107		Series	CollectionGeyG- George O. Gey Collection

Related Artifacts

Found 87 record(s)

Available Actions	Artifact Numbersort by Artifact Number ascending	Titlesort by Title ascending
	235A	Dissected Rat
	1361A	Medical Instrument Case
	1687A	Curved Forceps
	1688A	Artery Forceps
	1689A	Galt's Conical Trephine
	1690A	Russian Tissue Forceps
	1691A	Tissue Forceps
	1692A	Taylor Percussion Hammer
	1693A	Sims Vaginal Speculum
	1694A	Bandage Scissors
	1695A	Loring Ophthalmoscope
	1696A	Surgical Scissors in Case
	1697A	Portable Saw in Case
	1698A	Bent Probe with Eye
	1699A	Graham Blunt Hook
	1700A	Graves Vaginal Speculum
	1701A	Graves Vaginal Speculum
	1702A	Grooved Director with Probe End and Tongue Tie with Probe
	1703A	Instrument Holder
	1704A	Medical Instrument Case
	1705A	Straight Probe with Eye
	1706A	Obstetrical Forceps
	1707A	Scalpel
	1708A	Antitoxin Syringe (12 cc) and Case
	1709A	Hemostatic Forceps

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