Bending Membranes on Demand: Fluid Phospholipid Bilayers on Topographically Deformable Substrates

We combine hierarchical surface wrinkling of elastomers with lipid membrane deposition techniques to dynamically template complex three-dimensional topographies onto supported lipid bilayers. The real-time introduction of corresponding nano- to micrometer scale curvatures triggers spatially periodic, elastic bending of the bilayer, accompanied by molecular-level reorganizations. This ability to dynamically impose curvatures on supported bilayers and the ensuing re-equilibration promises fundamental material and biophysical investigations of curvature-dependent, static heterogeneities and dynamic reorganizations pervasive in biological membranes.