Chip platforms with synthetic lipid bilayers for electrophysiological analyses of pore proteins and extracellular vesicles

In this paper, we present microfluidic chip platforms to enable electrophysiological measurements of nanometer-sized extracellular vesicles. The basis of the chip platform is the realization of a synthetic free-standing lipid bilayer spanned within a microfabricated aperture. To allow ion channel current measurements, the background current noise level should be reduced to a minimum. This can be realized by coating microfabricated apertures from silicon, silicon oxide, or silicon nitride with PTFE or Parylene. Three promising chip platform designs are presented. Electrophysiological measurements conducted with these microfluidic systems show gating events of membrane proteins fused into synthetic lipid bilayers.