An approach to the stabilization of lipid bilayers incorporating ion channels for biosensing applications

Two aspects of the development of a practical ion channel-based biosensor are discussed: (1) establishment of a stable lipid bilayer system that maintains ion channel function and (2) production of a silicon-based bilayer support device. The current research focuses on refinement of the patch-clamp technique used to study ion channel function in artificial bilayers and comparison of the adhesion of the various lipid monolayers and bilayers to that of amorphous silica. Bilayers of dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) have been formed reproducibly, and initial results show that alamethicin ion channel function can be obtained in DOPE bilayers