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Microfluidics: High Yield, Reproducible and Quasi‐Automated Bilayer Formation in a Microfluidic Format (Small 7/2013)
Author(s) -
Stimberg Verena C.,
Bomer Johan G.,
van Uitert Iris,
van den Berg Albert,
Le Gac Séverine
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201370037
Subject(s) - microfluidics , membrane , gramicidin , lipid bilayer , nanotechnology , bilayer , nanopore , yield (engineering) , materials science , biophysics , chemistry , biochemistry , biology , metallurgy
A sophisticated planar model of a cell membrane is designed by S. Le Gac and co‐workers, comprising various types of phospholipids and including membrane proteins as, for instance, ion channels. Such membrane models are prepared in the microfluidic platform reported on page 1076 in a quasi‐automated manner with a near‐100% yield, and are characterized in situ using both electrical and optical techniques. The versatility of the platform is illustrated, with application in experimentation on membranes prepared from various lipid species, electrical measurements on individual nanopores, and early drug screening assays using gramicidin peptides.