Translating cell biology of ageing? On the importance of choreographing knowledge

Moreira, Tiago

Abstract

This paper describes and explores how translational research models, embedded in institutions and standards, interact with the epistemic and material practices of cell biologists of ageing, a field re-energized by emergent technoscientific promises that hinge on the possibility of eliminating or manipulating senescent cells to tackle age-related diseases. Drawing on a 3-year long lab ethnography, the paper suggests that knowledge making in cell biology of ageing relies on two different epistemic and material cultures, to then argue that these cultures combine in four different types of experimental systems, only one of which can properly be seen as pertaining to translation as usually conceived. The paper further analyses how cell biologists articulate the linear temporality of translational research with the unfolding experimental chains where, by shifting between types of experimental system, cell biologists are able to generatively reconfigure their epistemic objects, and the consequences of this fragile arrangements for the field.

Citation

Moreira, T. (2021). Translating cell biology of ageing? On the importance of choreographing knowledge. New Genetics and Society, 40(3), 267-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1825932

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 15, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Sep 26, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Oct 8, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 26, 2021
• Journal: New Genetics and Society
• Print ISSN: 1463-6778
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9915
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 267-283
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1825932