Chapter 5 Micropatterned Lipid Bilayer Membranes on Solid Substrates

Abstract

Micropatterned phospholipid bilayers on solid substrates offer an attractive platform for various applications, such as high throughput drug screening. We have developed a photopolymerization‐based methodology for generating micropatterned bilayers composed of polymerized and fluid lipid bilayers. The polymeric bilayer acts as a framework that supports embedded lipid membranes with defined boundaries. The embedded lipid membranes, on the other hand, retain some important characteristics of the biological membrane such as fluidity, and are used as a model system. The fact that polymeric and fluid bilayers are integrated as a continuous bilayer membrane gives various unique features to the model membrane. For example, enhanced incorporation of fluid bilayers by preformed polymeric bilayer scaffold was observed. The lateral mobility of membrane‐associated molecules could also be modulated by controlling the composition of polymeric and fluid bilayers, resembling the obstructed lateral diffusion in cellular membranes. Owing to these features, micropatterned composite membranes of polymeric and fluid lipid bilayers provide a versatile platform for constructing complex model systems of the biological membrane, which should be useful for basic biophysical studies as well as biomedical applications.