HBO Films announced today that it has acquired the rights to "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," a popular book that examines the extraordinary -- and controversial -- scientific contribution made by a young, black Baltimore County woman more than a half-century ago. As we noted on Read Street, while Lacks was being treated for cancer at Johns Hopkins, a researcher was able to keep some of her cells alive outside her body -- a remarkable breakthrough for medical research.

Author Rebecca Skloot describes how "HeLa cells," spread around the world, helped to develop the polio vaccine and forge advances in such areas as chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization. Yet Lacks' role was not acknowledged for years, and her family reaped no financial gain, leaving them understandably bitter.

Among the executive producers for the HBO Films project is Oprah Winfrey, who got her start as a TV talk show host in Baltimore with WJZ.