Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have 3D printed miniature Lego-style ‘bone bricks,’ which are potentially capable of healing broken skeletal tissue.

The researchers’ tiny hollow blocks, which are only the size of a small flea, serve as scaffolding onto which both hard and soft tissue can regrow. Moreover, the stackable nature of the modules enables them to be interlocked like toy bricks, offering scalability along with thousands of potential geometric configurations. Eventually, the Oregon team aims to scale the technology, and use the microcages to produce laboratory-made organs for human transplant instead.