In vitro systems are commonly used within the fields of molecular biology and biochemistry. However, despite the prevalent use of these systems, discussions regarding the nature of in vitro modeling have thus far been limited, and do not capture the diversity of in vitro modeling techniques employed by biochemists. The nature of modeling in molecular biology and biochemistry is more diverse than it initially appears, and much of the modeling done within these fields remains unexplored by philosophers.
In my talk, I will briefly introduce one means by which biochemists have used in vitro studies to generate knowledge about molecular activity, citing studies from 2012 used to characterize the mechanisms behind the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Furthermore, I will gesture to where the philosophy of chemistry and the philosophy of biology might be brought together to better address questions about modeling in biochemistry.
