Abstract

Construction of Artificial Cell-Membrane System Using Microfluidics

Ryuji Kawano, , Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Artificial cell membranes have emerged as a biomimetic tool in such areas as membrane protein study, synthetic biology, and drug discovery. Planar lipid bilayers are used for functional studies of ion channels and nanopore sensing. The stability of lipid bilayers and the reproducibility of bilayer formation are important and it still remains challenging. To address these issues, we have used microfabrication and microfluidic technologies that have a major advantage: easy to handle lipid molecules or solution at the micron scale using microfluidics. Applying these advantages, we propose a stable and reproducible preparation procedure for the planar lipid bilayers using “droplet contact method”, and they are applying to measure pore-forming peptides and nanopore sensing.