Digitalizando o câncer de próstata: pensando as interseções entre engenharia e biologia na ciência contemporânea

Abstract

This paper is based on ethnographic work conducted in the city of Austin (Texas, USA) with an interdisciplinary group of scientists working on a computer model of bioheat transfer in the prostate. The group's aim is to develop a new paradigm for prostate cancer surgery, based on predictions from the computer model and data interconnectivity between two cities (Houston and Austin) enabled by advanced computer technologies. The analysis will focus on the scientists' interactions in Austin and the dilemmas they faced in their scientific work pertaining to the"digitizing" of biological processes. The aim of this paper is thus to analyze how biomedical engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians work together to establish new forms of representing the biological body in mathematical and computational terms. The paper concludes that this process of translating the human body and its functions is marked by misunderstandings and difficulties in translating between biology and engineering. This analysis illuminates some of the main difficulties inherent to such scientific undertakings, which are becoming increasingly common. Such difficulties will grow to be more relevant as more countries, including Brazil, invest heavily in incorporating computer technologies in medicine.