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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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-06, Vol.9 (6), p.e100867-e100867
Main Authors: Lind, Kara R, Sizmur, Tom, Benomar, Saida, Miller, Anthony, Cademartiri, Ludovico
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Architectural engineering
BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Bioengineering - instrumentation
Bioengineering - methods
biological system engineering
Biology and Life Sciences
Bricks
Engineering and Technology
Environment
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Experiments
Flowers & plants
gels
Genetic engineering
Laboratories
Materials science
Modularity
oxygen
Phenotype
Plant biology
Plant Development
Plant growth
plant growth and development
Plant roots
Plant Roots - growth & development
Plastics
Play and Playthings
Research and Analysis Methods
root growth
root structure
Science education
soil chemistry
Studies
Toys
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0100867