Fresh or thawed T cells?: How modes of bioavailability matter in the study of translational medicine

Abstract

This article explores how cell immunotherapy becomes deliverable at the in-betweens of the bench, bedside, and community in translational medicine. During ethnographic research in an advanced cell therapies unit, I observed how the staff made virus-specific T cells available for therapeutic use. In dialogue with recent Science and Technology Studies scholars’ thinking around the concept of readiness, this paper highlights the analytic richness of paying empirical attention to how biological therapeutics are made available (i.e., their modes of bioavailability). This study identifies two modes of bioavailability for landing cellular drugs at the bedside. In bioavailability mode I, cells are banked in potential donors’ bodies and extracted for fresh infusion. In bioavailability mode II, cells are expanded and cryobanked in a cell bank for thawed infusion. Each mode offers different degrees of readiness and matching. I argue that ethnographic analysis of modes of bioavailability in health innovation and therapeutics implementation enables a less finalist and mass production understanding of translational medicine. This work highlights the relevance of exploring the practices, logistics, and logics that make some modes of bioavailability more valuable than others in pharmaceutical terms—and biomedicine more broadly.