title: Formation of artificial lipid bilayers using droplet dielectrophoresis.
abstract: We describe the formation of artificial bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) by the controlled, electrical manipulation of aqueous droplets immersed in a lipid-alkane solution. Droplet movement was generated using dielectrophoresis on planar microelectrodes covered in a thin insulator. Droplets, surrounded by lipid monolayers, were brought into contact and spontaneously formed a BLM. The method produced BLMs suitable for single-channel recording of membrane protein activity and the technique can be extended to create programmable BLM arrays and networks.
authors.affiliation: School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aghdaei
authors.forename: Mairi E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sandison
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zagnoni
authors.forename: Nicolas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Hywel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers