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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Biochemical Applications of Solid Supported Membranes on Gold Surfaces: Quartz Crystal Microbalance and Impedance Analysis

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Since their inception in 1985 by Tamm and McConnell [1], solid supported lipid bilayers have been widely used as model systems for cellular membranes [2]. They have been applied in fundamental and applied studies of lipid assemblies on surfaces, to study the structure of membranes and membrane dynamics, lipidreceptor-interactions and electrochemical properties of membranes [3-5]. Several attempts have been made to apply solid supported membranes (SSM) in biosensor devices [6]. Planar lipid membranes can be formed on various surfaces, i.e. glass, silicon, mica or metal surfaces such as platinum or gold. Surface attachment of the lipids is typically achieved following two different strategies, the deposition of Langmuir-monolayers or more easily by selfassembly techniques. The major advantage of this membrane type is their attachment to a solid support, resulting in long-term and high mechanical stability. They can be combined with all kinds of surface sensitive techniques and electrochemical methods provided that the support is a conducting surface such as metals, inorganic materials (indium-tin oxide) or conducting polymers.