Cell membrane receptors and ion channels are essential in many different cellular processes. To analyse the activity of membrane proteins in vesicles and biological cells, we fabricated micro- nanostructured chips, enabling the application of electrophysiology and fluorescence-based techniques. A SU-8 biochip was developed for simultaneously micromanipulating and investigating optically and electrically individual vesicles in a microfluidic channel. Lipid vesicles were transported, positioned by electrophoretic movement on a micrometer sized aperture, and fused to form a planar suspended membrane, which is suited to study ion channel activity. Aiming to investigate G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathways in native-like environment, we developed a method for producing well-oriented planar cell membrane sheets on silicon films containing nanoaperture arrays. The accessibility of extracellular and cytosolic surfaces was demonstrated by targeting membrane constituents side-specifically with fluorescent markers. Our approach can be applied for studying membrane proteins from a large variety of cells and cellular organelles using chip-based screening assays.