All 11 Uses of

focus

in

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

But mostly he tried to move on from HeLa, focusing instead on growing normal and cancerous cells from the same patient, so he could compare them to each other.
Chpt 2.13

focusing = concentrating

Informed consent focused on what doctors were required to tell their patients; there was little mention of how it might apply to research like Southam's, in which subjects weren't the researcher's patients.
Chpt 2.17

focused = concentrated

And to be honest, the family wasn't really my focus.
Chpt 3.26 *

focus = place where attention was directed

Christoph bent over the microscope to bring the cells into focus, and an image appeared on the screen that looked more like hazy green pond water than cells.
Chpt 3.32

focus = view (a state where something can be seen clearly)

Christoph taught Deborah and Zakariyya how to use the microscope, saying, "Look through like this … take your glasses off… now turn this knob to focus."
Chpt 3.32 *

focus = adjust a lens for a sharp image

I just want to focus on the good, like seein my mother cells, and learnin about my sister.
Chpt 3.33

focus = concentrate

Eventually Deborah stopped thinking about going to school herself and instead started focusing on making sure her grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews got educated.
Chpt 3.37

focusing = concentrating

Today, when the Lacks brothers talk about Henrietta, they focus on the importance of her contribution to science.
Chpt WTAN *

focus = concentrate

Kathy Hudson, who has conducted focus groups about the public's feelings on the tissue issue, says she believes that tissue rights have the potential to become a bona fide movement.†
Chpt Aft.

focus groups = groups formed to discuss or offer insight on a particular topic

Definitions:

(1) (focus as in: Turn your focus to question #2.)
verb: to concentrate, look at, or pay attention to

noun: the act of concentration, or the ability to concentrate

(to concentrate is to direct attention or effort towards a single thing)
(2) (focus as in: The focus of our study is...)
where attention is concentrated or directed
(3) (focus as in: bring into focus; or out of focus)
a state where something has come into view or can be seen clearly; or an adjustment made to permit a clear view
(4) (focus as with technical usage)
technical usage typically involves some sense of center or concentration such as:
- physics — a point where things come together such as the point where light rays meet
- geometry — a fixed reference point (as of a parabola)
- geology — the point of origin of an earthquake
See a comprehensive dictionary for other less common meanings.
(5) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)