Patent ID: 8039247
Filing Date: 2011-10-18
Classification: B01J,B01L

Abstract:
1. A method of forming a planar lipid-bilayer membrane for membrane protein analysis, the method comprising: (a) filling a microchannel with a first buffer solution, the microchannel being disposed under a horizontal partition wall having a tapered aperture, such that the tapered aperture narrows from the lower side to the upper side; (b) applying a small amount of a lipid solution as a droplet to the aperture filled with the buffer solution to form a thin layer of the lipid solution in a chamber, the chamber being formed at a position corresponding to the aperture of the partition wall and being provided with a liquid trap on the partition wall inside the chamber, wherein the liquid trap is a trench formed at the periphery of the aperture that thins the lipid solution added above the aperture; and (c) applying a second buffer solution as a droplet to the chamber from the upper side of the chamber, thereby forming a planar lipid-bilayer membrane, wherein the first buffer solution and the second buffer solution are the same or different, and wherein the lipid solution comprises unarranged phospholipids, each of which having a hydrophilic group and a hydrophobic group, and which form the planar lipid bilayer upon the applying of the second buffer solution in (c).