Danelon, C.Jenke, M.J.Schreiter, C.Kim, G.M.Perez, J.-B.Santschi, C.Brugger, J.Vogel, H.2007-10-292007-10-292007-10-29200610.2533/chimia.2006.754https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/14175WOS:000242520700006Cell 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.ElectrophysiologyFluorescence techniquesMembrane proteinsMicro- nanoaperturestext::journal::journal article::research article