Microfabrication technologies accelerate digital biology

Abstract

Micro-chamber arrays enable highly sensitive and quantitative bioassays at the single-molecule level. Accordingly, they are widely used for ultra-sensitive biomedical applications, e.g., digital PCR and digital ELISA. Recently, microsystems using arrayed micro-chambers sealed with lipid bilayers, referred to here as “biomembrane microsystems”, have been developed by many research groups for the analysis of membrane proteins. In this review, I would like to introduce recent progress on the single molecule analysis of membrane proteins using a biomembrane microsystem and discuss the future prospects for its use in analytical and pharmacological applications.