This paper is based on ethnographic work conducted in the city of Austin (Texas, USA) with an interdisciplinary group of scientists working on a computer model of bioheat transfer in the prostate. The group's aim is to develop a new paradigm for prostate cancer surgery, based on predictions from the computer model and data interconnectivity between two cities (Houston and Austin) enabled by advanced computer technologies. The analysis will focus on the scientists' interactions in Austin and the dilemmas they faced in their scientific work pertaining to the "digitizing" of biological processes. The aim of this paper is thus to analyze how biomedical engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians work together to establish new forms of representing the biological body in mathematical and computational terms. The paper concludes that this process of translating the human body and its functions is marked by misunderstandings and difficulties in translating between biology and engineering. This analysis illuminates some of the main difficulties inherent to such scientific undertakings, which are becoming increasingly common. Such difficulties will grow to be more relevant as more countries, including Brazil, invest heavily in incorporating computer technologies in medicine.521247288Adelson, N., Visible/Human/Project: Visibility and Invisibility at the Next Anatomical Frontier (2006) Figuring it Out: Science, Gender and Visual Culture, pp. 358-377. , in SHTEIN, A.LIGHTMAN, B. (orgs.), Hanover, DartmouthBaird, F., Moore, C., Jagodzinski, A., An Ethnographic Study of Engineering Design Teams at Rolls-Royce Aerospace (2000) Design Studies, 21, pp. 333-355Baker, M., Representing Invention, Viewing Models (2004) Models: The Third Dimension of Science, pp. 19-43. , in CHADAREVIAN, S. e HOPWOOD, N. (orgs.), Stanford, Stanford University PressBement Jr., A., (2007) Cyberinfrastructure Visions for 21st Century Discovery, , National Science FoundationBenjamin, W., (1985) Obras Escolhidas, V. I: Magia E Técnica, Arte E Política, , trad. S. P. Rouanet, São Paulo, BrasilienseBracken, C.J., 'What do you mean?' The Importance of Language in Developing Interdisciplinary Research (2006) Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 31, pp. 371-382Clarke, A.E., Shim, J., Mamo, J., Forsket, J., Fishman, J., Biomedicalization: Technoscientific Transformations of Health, Illness and US Biomedicine (2003) American Sociological Review, 68, pp. 161-194Daston, L., Galiston, P., The Image of Objectivity (1990) Representations, 40, pp. 81-128Elias, N., Scientific Establishments (1982) Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies, pp. 3-71. , in ELIAS, N., MARTINS, H. e WHITLEY, R. (orgs.), London, ReidelForsythe, D.E., Engineering Knowledge: The Construction of Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence (1993) Social Studies of Science, 23 (3), pp. 445-477Forsythe, D.E., Using Ethnography to Investigate Life Scientists' Information Needs (1998) Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 86 (3), pp. 402-409Forsythe, D.E., (2001) Studying Those Who Study Us: An Anthropologist in the World of Artificial Intelligence, , Stanford, Stanford University PressFrancoeur, E., Segal, J., From Model Kits to Interactive Computer Graphics (2004) Models: The Third Dimension of Science, pp. 402-433. , in CHADAREVIAN, S. D.HOPWOOD, N. (orgs), Stanford, Stanford University PressHelmreich, S., (1998) Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World, , Berkeley, University of California PressHogle, L.F., Enhancement technologies and the body (2005) Annual Review of Anthropology, 35, pp. 695-716Hopwood, N., Plastic Publishing in Embryology (2004) Models: The Third Dimension of Science, pp. 170-207. , in CHADAREVIAN S. D.HOPWOOD, N. (orgs.), Stanford, Stanford University PressKnorr-Cetina, K., (1981) The Manufacture of Knowledge: An Essay on the Constructivist and Contextual Nature of Science, , Oxford, PergamonKnorr-Cetina, K., Amman, K., Image Dissection in Natural Scientific Inquiry (1990) Science, Technology and Human Values, 15 (3), pp. 259-283Kuhn, T., (1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, , Chicago, University of Chicago PressLatour, B., Drawing Things Together (1990) Representation in Scientific Practice, pp. 19-68. , in LYNCH, M.WOOLGAR, S. (orgs.), Cambridge, MIT PressLatour, B., Woolgar, S., (1986) Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts, , Princeton, Princeton University PressLenoir, T., Makeover: Writing the Body into the Posthuman Technoscape Part One: Embracing the Posthuman (2002) Configurations, 10, pp. 203-220Lenoir, T., Makeover: Writing the Body into the Posthuman Technoscape Part Two: Corporeal Axiomatics (2002) Configurations, 10, pp. 373-385Lenoir, T., The Virtual Surgeon: New Practices for an Age of Medialization (2004) Data Made Flesh: Embodying Information, pp. 137-153. , in MITCHELL, R.THURTLE, P. (orgs.), New York, RoutledgeLynch, M., The Production of Scientific Images: Vision and Re-Vision in the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science (2006) Visual Cultures of Science: Rethinking Representational Practices in Knowledge Building and Science Communication, pp. 26-41. , in PAUWELS, L. (org.), Hanover, Dartmouth College PressLynch, M., Woolgar, S., Introduction: Sociological Orientations to Representational Practice in Science (1990) Representation in Scientific Practice, pp. 1-19. , in LYNCH, M.WOOLGAR, S. (orgs.), Cambridge, MIT PressLynch, M., Woolgar, S., (1990) Representation in Scientific Practice, , (orgs.), Cambridge, MIT PressMcCallin, A., Interdisciplinary Researching: Exploring the Opportunities and Risks of Working Together (2006) Nursing and Health Sciences, 8, pp. 88-94Monteiro, M., (2005) Dilemas Do Humano: Reinventando O Corpo Numa Era (bio)tecnológica, , Tese (Doutorado), Campinas, Universidade Estadual de CampinasPasveer, B., Representing or Mediating: A History and Philosophy of X-Ray Images in Medicine (2006) Visual Cultures of Science: Rethinking Representational Practices in Knowledge Building and Science Communication, pp. 41-63. , in PAUWELS, L. (org.), Hanover, Dartmouth College PressPauwels, L., (2006) Visual Cultures of Science: Rethinking Representational Practices in Knowledge Building and Science Communication, , (org.), Hanover, Dartmouth College PressPickering, A., (1992) Science as Practice and Culture, , (org.), Chicago, University of Chicago PressPrentice, R., The Anatomy of a Surgical Simulation: The Mutual Articulation of Bodies in and through the Machine (2005) Social Studies of Science, 35 (6), pp. 837-866Rheinberger, H.-J., Experiment, Difference and Writing: I. Tracing Protein Synthesis (1992) Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 23 (2), pp. 305-331Rheinberger, H.-J., Experiment, Difference and Writing: II. The Laboratory Production of Transfer RNA (1992) Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 23 (3), pp. 389-422Waldby, C., (2000) The Visible Human Project: Informatic Bodies and Posthuman Medicine, , New York, Routledge