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...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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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. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:14:41Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-28b19b8a50924adbbc574700db44ff22 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1932-6203 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:14:41Z |
publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
record_format | Article |
series | PLoS ONE |
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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