Polymer Supported Lipid Bilayers

Polymer-supported lipid bilayers on benzophenone-modified substrates.

Solid-supported lipid membranes are important for their roles in fundamental biophysical research as well as in applications such as biosensors. In our study, lipopolymers containing alkyl side chains were synthesized and a mixture of the lipopolymer and free lipids was preorganized at the air-water interface and then transferred to a solid substrate using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. A pho...

Polydopamine-Supported Lipid Bilayers

We report the formation of lipid membranes supported by a soft polymeric cushion of polydopamine. First, 20 nm thick polydopamine films were formed on mica substrates. Atomic force microscopy imaging indicated that these films were also soft with a surface roughness of 2 nm under hydrated conditions. A zwitterionic phospholipid bilayer was then deposited on the polydopamine cushion by fusion of...

Titration force microscopy on supported lipid bilayers.

The use of chemically modified atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes allows us to measure the surface charges of supported planar lipid bilayers with high sensitivity through the force spectroscopy operation mode. By controlling the chemistry of the tip, we can perform a classical analytical chemistry titration where the titration agent is a weak acid (attached to the AFM tip) with the particula...

Salt-induced lipid transfer between colloidal supported lipid bilayers†

Structural studies of polymer-cushioned lipid bilayers.

The structure of softly supported polymer-cushioned lipid bilayers, prepared in two different ways at the quartz-solution interface, were determined using neutron reflectometry. The polymer cushion consisted of a thin layer of branched, cationic polyethyleneimine (PEI), and the bilayers were formed by adsorption of small unilamellar dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) vesicles. When vesicles ...