Modeling the ‘patient cell:’ performances of proximity and the making of pathological proxies

Abstract Scientists evaluate disease models by their capacity to capture salient features of patients’ pathologies. Molecular scientists widely regard patient‑derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) as closer to human disease biology than many other cell models. Yet producing tissue‑specific cells from hiPSC entails deliberate manipulation of their developmental state and properties, raising the question how these cells are engaged as faithful pathological proxies. Drawing on my ethnography of biologists creating cell models to study ciliopathies, I demonstrate that proximity between hiPSC-based ‘patient cells’ and patients’ pathologies is actively produced through practices of modeling the cell. I conceptualize these practices as performances of proximity , describing the conceptual, aspirational, and technical negotiations through which researchers reconfigure cellular properties and the links between donors, cells, and clinical objectives. By examining scientists’ value-making practices in disease modeling as performances of proximity, this study illuminates how hiPSC-based models gain salience in basic research. It also advances theoretical discussions in STS about strategies in disease modeling and the ethical–political stakes of using patient-derived cells.