Controlling control—A primer in open-source experimental control systems

Biological systems are composed of countless interlocking feedback loops. Reactor control systems—such as Chi-Bio (https://chi.bio/), recently published in PLOS Biology—enable biologists to drive multiple processes within living biological samples, using a single experimental framework. Consequently, the dynamic relationships between many biological variables can be explored simultaneously in situ. Similar multivariable experimental reactors are employed beyond biology in the study of active matter and non-equilibrium chemical reactions, in which physical systems are maintained far from equilibrium through the continuous introduction of energy or matter. Inexpensive state-of-the-art components enable open-source implementation of such multiparameter architectures, which represent a move away from expensive systems optimised for single measurements, towards affordable and reconfigurable multi-measurement systems. The transfer of well-understood engineering knowledge into the hands of biological and chemical specialists via open-source channels allows rapid cycles of experimental development and heralds a change in experimental capability that is driving increased theoretical and practical understanding of out-of-equilibrium systems across a wide range of scientific fields.