LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.

LEGO bricks are commercially available interlocking pieces of plastic that are conventionally used as toys. We describe their use to build engineered environments for cm-scale biological systems, in particular plant roots. Specifically, we take advantage of the unique modularity of these building bl...

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Main Authors: Kara R Lind, Tom Sizmur, Saida Benomar, Anthony Miller, Ludovico Cademartiri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24963716/pdf/?tool=EBI
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author Kara R Lind
Tom Sizmur
Saida Benomar
Anthony Miller
Ludovico Cademartiri
author_facet Kara R Lind
Tom Sizmur
Saida Benomar
Anthony Miller
Ludovico Cademartiri
author_sort Kara R Lind
collection DOAJ
description LEGO bricks are commercially available interlocking pieces of plastic that are conventionally used as toys. We describe their use to build engineered environments for cm-scale biological systems, in particular plant roots. Specifically, we take advantage of the unique modularity of these building blocks to create inexpensive, transparent, reconfigurable, and highly scalable environments for plant growth in which structural obstacles and chemical gradients can be precisely engineered to mimic soil.
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spelling doaj.art-28b19b8a50924adbbc574700db44ff222022-12-21T17:43:57ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0196e10086710.1371/journal.pone.0100867LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.Kara R LindTom SizmurSaida BenomarAnthony MillerLudovico CademartiriLEGO bricks are commercially available interlocking pieces of plastic that are conventionally used as toys. We describe their use to build engineered environments for cm-scale biological systems, in particular plant roots. Specifically, we take advantage of the unique modularity of these building blocks to create inexpensive, transparent, reconfigurable, and highly scalable environments for plant growth in which structural obstacles and chemical gradients can be precisely engineered to mimic soil.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24963716/pdf/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Kara R Lind
Tom Sizmur
Saida Benomar
Anthony Miller
Ludovico Cademartiri
LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.
PLoS ONE
title LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.
title_full LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.
title_fullStr LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.
title_full_unstemmed LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.
title_short LEGO® bricks as building blocks for centimeter-scale biological environments: the case of plants.
title_sort lego r bricks as building blocks for centimeter scale biological environments the case of plants
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24963716/pdf/?tool=EBI
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AT saidabenomar legobricksasbuildingblocksforcentimeterscalebiologicalenvironmentsthecaseofplants
AT anthonymiller legobricksasbuildingblocksforcentimeterscalebiologicalenvironmentsthecaseofplants
AT ludovicocademartiri legobricksasbuildingblocksforcentimeterscalebiologicalenvironmentsthecaseofplants