Katy Connor

This paper reflects on collaboration between an artist, a scientist, and two social scientists involved in research on cultured red blood cells. Cell culture is part of a suite of methods used by bioscientists to study cellular processes outside of the living organism. The production of laboratory-grown blood is at the cutting-edge of cell culture and regenerative medicine, with hopes for significant therapeutic benefit in the future, particularly for patients with rare blood types or with conditions that require frequent blood transfusions. We reflect on our collaboration and on artistic experimentation with spatial dimensions of cells and scaffolds used in red blood cell culture, highlighting our efforts to generate knowledge that cuts across our respective disciplinary locations. We situate our work together in the context of the increasing molecularization of the body in science and medicine, and on the efforts to ‘open up’ scientific practice to multiple publics.

Finding avenues for collaboration and engagement between the arts and the sciences (natural and social) was a central theme of investigation for the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Public Engagement programme at BrisSynBio, a BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre that is now part of the Bristol BioDesign Institute at University of Bristol (UK). The reflections and experiments that appear in this dossier are a sample of these investigations and are contributed by Maria Fannin, Katy Connor and David Roden. Darian Meacham coordinated and introduces the dossier.

Objective Evaluate the risk factors and immediate outcome of term neonates born with Apgar Score (AS) of Methods Retrospective review of maternity database to identify 187 live born neonates with AS Results 63% of mothers were primigravida, at 37 weeks or more, with 54% of them being forty weeks or more at delivery. Only 28% of pregnancies were known to be high risk at the onset of labour while 73% of low risk pregnancies developed intrapartum risk factors such as maternal pyrexia, tachycardia and meconium. Only 7.3% experienced significant intrapartum events (abruption, shoulder dystocia). 37% of all neonates were admitted to the neonatal unit with 62% of them needing intubation. 92% of babies needing intubation were from low risk pregnancies who developed intrapartum risk factors, most of which were not recognised and acted upon appropriately. Conclusion Low AS in term neonates seems to be associated with new onset of intrapartum risk factors rather than pre-exiting risk factors. Birth attendants should pay more attention to early recognition of risk factors through continuous risk assessment, and intervene appropriately, in order to prevent unexpected poor neonatal outcome.

At Translation: Pairing Practices, London in June 2012, participants were given the following instructions: