A New Method for Preparing Stabilized Lipid Membranes

This invention describes a new straightforward method to prepare stable lipid membranes to maximize its capabilities and usage in the bio/nanotechnology field. The combination of polymer materials via this new polymerization technology that provides stabilized membranes enables new bio/nanotechnology platforms to be realized at its full potential.

Background:
Phospholipid bilayers play key roles in biology by providing and electrically insulating layer between the intracellular and extracellular environments. Phospholipid bilayers also provide they scaffold to support membrane proteins that regulate biological signaling and function. Due to their importance in biology, membrane proteins expressed in natural membranes or reconstituted in synthetic phospholipid bilayers are increasingly utilized in biotechnology and nanotechnology applications as sensor elements and as binding scaffold. In many cases the stability of the phospholipid bilayer limits the capability of the bio/nanotechnology platform. Thus, to maximize the potential of these important classes of molecules and the subsequent applications of them in bio/nanotechnology platform, stabilized phospholipid bilayers are needed.

Applications:

• The application of this invention focuses on the need for stabilized phospholipid bilayers in the bio/nanotechnology platform to improve their potential in functions such as binding scaffolds and sensor elements

Advantages:

• Stability of the resulting membrane is the major advantage
• The polymer scaffolding can be performed at neutral pH and this helps preserve the functionality of reconstituted membrane proteins (Compared to other polymerization methods)
• The method proposed by the inventors is simple and straightforward thus has potential to be scaled up
• This technology addresses the valuable issue of stability of phospholipid membranes with the aim to improve its applications