LEGO Bricks used to provide Structure to Lab-Grown Meat

Researchers from Penn State and the University of Alabama have described the use of LEGO bricks to solve a common problem facing lab-grown meat—lack of structural support. When cultured meat is made, animal muscle cells are typically grown in a nutrient-rich broth. Without structural support, the cells grow in an unorganized manner and results in a texture similar to ground-beef. The new technique, published in Food Hydrocolloids, uses LEGO bricks as part of an inexpensive electrospinning device to spin starches to create a bio-degradable, edible starch scaffolding. This scaffolding is used as a backbone on which the lab-grown cultured meat can grow into a more steak-like product.