A high-throughput microfluidic system for the simultaneous formation of droplet-interface bilayer arrays

The ability to form artificial lipid membranes in a reliable, high-throughput lab-on-a-chip format has the potential to advance membrane protein studies and the development of sensitive molecular biosensors, ultimately impacting on the
development of novel and low-cost synthetic approaches to drug screening. Existing methods are limited in terms of their automation, throughput and ease of use. We have developed a microfluidic system that allows the formation, alternation, desired positioning and long-term storage of arrays of droplet-interface-bilayers (DIBs). By encapsulating the desired cocktail of liposomes and metabolites into phospholipid-stabilized water-in-oil (W/O) droplets, hundreds of DIBs were characterized using fluorescence-based assays.