ABSTRACT
Advancement of biology often requires development of new materials, methods, and tools that can in turn significantly accelerate scientific discoveries. The introduction of the petri dish over 100 years ago provided an indispensable tool for culturing cells in vitro, thus permitting detailed dissection of seemingly intractable biological and physiological systems into manageable units and well-defined studies. This simple dish has had profound impact on our understanding of complex biology, especially cell biology and neurobiology.
