Organs on Chips: Biomedical Models and the Political Economy of Innovation

Opportunity Description:

Novel biomedical technologies have transformed how we understand the human condition, health, and disease. In the decades since the invention of recombinant DNA technology in the mid 1970s, the early development of tissue engineering in the 1980s, and the mapping of the human genome in the 1990s—just to name a few—investment in biotechnology and biocapital has boomed, and these advancements have profoundly shaped what we imagine biomedicine can and should achieve. This project examines a set of novel technologies called organ chips, and sociopolitical contexts that shape their emergence. Drawing on interviews with organ chip researchers and funders, ethnographic observations of laboratories, scientific conferences, and educational settings, and document analysis of scientific publications and policy and regulatory documents, this project documents how organ chips, as technological artifacts, emerge as productive and valuable tools, and trace how they are imagined and brought into fruition by a diverse set of actors across government, industry, and academic sectors.

Primary Responsibilities: 

The component of this project the RA will contribute to is an analysis of the ways in which dimensions of human difference (e.g., race, sex, age, comorbidity) are implicated in organ chip research. The student will first learn about qualitative content analysis, and then be responsible for curation of data and the content analysis of scientific publications and presentations to examine how ideas about human difference manifest in organ chip research.

Minimum Qualifications and/or Eligibility Requirements: 

Student must have demonstrated interest in health and society and qualitative research methods.
Strong communication and writing skills.
Some experience (at least introductory) with social science research methods.

Background in qualitative social science research methods.

Knowledge or skills gained from the experience: 

Students working on this project can expect to hone the following skills: inductive, qualitative research methods, research design, data collection skills (recruiting participants, conducting in-depth interviews), data management skills, data analysis skills. Specific writing skills include: literature review strategy, academic and public facing writing strategy.

Application Requirements: