Single Ion Channel Sensitivity in Suspended Bilayers on Micromachined Supports

This paper describes the formation of bilayer lipid membranes on a micromachined support, consisting of a 128 μm (diameter) aperture on a gold/SU8 surface suspended over a small aqueous reservoir (∼25 nL). The bilayers are highly impermeable to ion transport with specific resistance values up to 10 7 Ω cm 2 . Single-channel activities of gramicidin and alamethicin were observed in these systems. This work demonstrates that micromachined supports for bilayers are promising for the development of a biosensor with single-channel sensitivity.