Lego-inspired method allows lab tools to be 3D-printed in blocks

A new 3D printing technique has been developed that could allow lab instruments for chemistry and biology experiments to be printed and assembled in Lego-style blocks.

Researchers from the University of California – Riverside developed the blocks, called Multifluidic Evolutionary Components (MECs), to perform individual basic tasks found in a lab instrument, such as pumping fluids, making measurements or interfacing with a user.

The blocks are designed to work together, meaning users can build apparatus such as bioreactors for alternative fuels or acid-base titration tools for chemistry teaching rapidly and efficiently, without the need for specialised training.

To test the principle, the team called upon more than 50 students from the university to create an extensive system of more than 200 MEC blocks, as well as schematics to guide assembly of the building blocks into finished instruments.

Further efforts will now be made to ensure these blocks can be made available and affordable to anyone wishing to use them.

William Grover, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California – Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering, said: "As 3D printers become more mainstream … we would like people to be able to use those printers to create their own MEC blocks and build the research and educational tools they need."