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Beyond the Petri dish

Nature Biotechnology volume 22, pages 151–152 (2004)Cite this article

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When he invented the ubiquitous dish that bears his name, Julius Petri, a technician in Robert Koch's laboratory, fundamentally transformed our ability to culture, manipulate and analyze cells. Since then, over a century ago, the Petri dish has become a staple in laboratory work on both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. But the time has come to move on from two-dimensional dishes to culture systems that better represent the natural context of cells in tissues and organs.

3D or not 3D?

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Figure 1: Architecture that mimics three-dimensional cellular architecture? The San Simeon Piccolo Dome in Venice, Italy.

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  1. Center for Biomedical Engineering NE47-379 and the Center for Bits & Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 02139-4307, Massachusetts, USA

    Shuguang Zhang

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  1. Shuguang Zhang
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Zhang, S. Beyond the Petri dish. Nat Biotechnol 22, 151–152 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0204-151

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0204-151

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