The HeLa Genome Access Working Group has approved four access requests for use of the HeLa genome, the Nature News blog reports.
The working group, which consists of scientists, physicians, bioethicists, and members of the Lacks family, was created in August to allow researchers to use HeLa genomic data while taking the concerns of Henrietta Lacks' family into consideration.
According to a report made by the group to the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, one request was approved outright and three were approved after additional information was provided to the working group. Two other requests are pending as the group also has sought additional information for those. Most of the additional information the working group asked for was in regards to researchers' plans to develop intellectual property.
Approved projects plan to study, among other things, cancer haplotypes and computational methods to combine cancer datasets.