Abstract
As the base structure of cell membrane, lipid bilayer membrane has been attracting much attention as a platform to study biological properties of the cell membrane. However, the artificial cell membrane system normally suffered from low stability and low protein–incorporation efficiency. We tackled these problems by using a microfabricated silicon chip to support the free–standing lipid bilayer, and applying centrifugal force to facilitate the incorporation of proteins. By combining the lipid bilayer system with the cell–free synthesized ion channel, we proposed a new screening system which can be extended to various channel genotypes for future personalized medicine. Recently, the lipid bilayer membrane has been further explored as an interesting nanomaterial, due to its unique properties, such as ultrathin thickness, ultrahigh resistance and self–assembling ability. By combining the lipid bilayer with other functional nanomaterials, it is possible to form high–performance nanodevices without using nanofabrication processes. A photodetector device and a transistor–like device based on fullerene–derivative-doped lipid bilayer was introduced as examples to demonstrate the potential of such nano-devices based on biohybrid membranes. We believe that the lipid bilayer membrane can be used as a feasible and flexible platform for next-generation drug screening and novel nanodevices.
