In vitro models—cell culture systems that are maintained outside the body, and studied as models of living organs or organisms—have been of increasing importance in a wide range of fields in biology and medicine. Yet they face epistemic challenges. How can simplified and experimentally modified cell culture systems serve as reliable models of living organs and organisms? How do they function in inferential practices in different contexts, within and beyond biomedicine? How do experts of different fields, who have different aims and values, interact and collaborate to generate, study, and use in vitro models?

This project will assess the prospects and limitations of in vitro models in comparative biology through answering the above questions. It will integrate philosophical analysis and empirical qualitative methods to examine a case study: in vitro comparisons of primate species. This is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary area of research, which studies different primate species by applying advanced in vitro technologies (such as induced pluripotent stem cells and organoids) to contribute to human evolution research, veterinary science, and conservation biology. Using this case study, this project will generate novel insights into how various experimental modifications, inferential practices, and social/institutional factors facilitate and/or constrain representational function of scientific models.