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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Device engineering for ion channel proteins requires developing systems that incorporate mechanically stable, long-lived lipid bilayer membranes. Building on our previous work, we have further increased lipid bilayer longevity through covalent conjugation of lipid molecules in the bilayer to an encapsulating hydrogel. This is accomplished by polymerizing the hydrogel in situ around a gigaohm-seal membrane containing vinyl-modified lipid head groups, forming a conjugated hydrogel encapsulated membrane (cgHEM). Membranes formed in this manner show remarkable stability, maintaining gigaohm-level resistance for over 270 hours, better than an order-of-magnitude improvement over the previous state of the art. They also demonstrate the capacity to support the incorporation and measurement of ion channel proteins at the single-molecule level.