Her work takes place at the intersection of the life and social sciences, particularly at the social and historical study of biotechnology and life science, from 1900 to now. She is best known for her 2007 Harvard University Press book, Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies, which describes the emergence of the HeLa cell line. Her current project looks at transformations to the metabolic sciences wrought by the rise of epigenetics, microbiomics, cell signaling and hormone biology.