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Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube

Droplet-interface bilayers (DIBs) have applications in disciplines ranging from biology to computing. We present a method for forming them manually using a Teflon tube attached to a syringe pump; this method is simple enough it should be accessible to those without expertise in microfluidics. It exp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Walsh, Edmond, Feuerborn, Alexander, Cook, Peter R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5041184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27681313
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep34355
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author Walsh, Edmond
Feuerborn, Alexander
Cook, Peter R.
author_facet Walsh, Edmond
Feuerborn, Alexander
Cook, Peter R.
author_sort Walsh, Edmond
collection PubMed
description Droplet-interface bilayers (DIBs) have applications in disciplines ranging from biology to computing. We present a method for forming them manually using a Teflon tube attached to a syringe pump; this method is simple enough it should be accessible to those without expertise in microfluidics. It exploits the properties of interfaces between three immiscible liquids, and uses fluid flow through the tube to pack together drops coated with lipid monolayers to create bilayers at points of contact. It is used to create functional nanopores in DIBs composed of phosphocholine using the protein α-hemolysin (αHL), to demonstrate osmotically-driven mass transfer of fluid across surfactant-based DIBs, and to create arrays of DIBs. The approach is scalable, and thousands of DIBs can be prepared using a robot in one hour; therefore, it is feasible to use it for high throughput applications.
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spelling pubmed-50411842016-09-30 Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube Walsh, Edmond Feuerborn, Alexander Cook, Peter R. Sci Rep Article Droplet-interface bilayers (DIBs) have applications in disciplines ranging from biology to computing. We present a method for forming them manually using a Teflon tube attached to a syringe pump; this method is simple enough it should be accessible to those without expertise in microfluidics. It exploits the properties of interfaces between three immiscible liquids, and uses fluid flow through the tube to pack together drops coated with lipid monolayers to create bilayers at points of contact. It is used to create functional nanopores in DIBs composed of phosphocholine using the protein α-hemolysin (αHL), to demonstrate osmotically-driven mass transfer of fluid across surfactant-based DIBs, and to create arrays of DIBs. The approach is scalable, and thousands of DIBs can be prepared using a robot in one hour; therefore, it is feasible to use it for high throughput applications. Nature Publishing Group 2016-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC5041184/ /pubmed/27681313 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep34355 Text en Copyright © 2016, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Walsh, Edmond
Feuerborn, Alexander
Cook, Peter R.
Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube
title Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube
title_full Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube
title_fullStr Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube
title_full_unstemmed Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube
title_short Formation of droplet interface bilayers in a Teflon tube
title_sort formation of droplet interface bilayers in a teflon tube
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5041184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27681313
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep34355
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