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LipoChip

Droplet-based bilayer and vesicle microdevices for electro-optical imaging applications

 

The aim of Lipochip project is to develop an original droplet-based approach to build biomimetic membranes for studying electro-optical properties of biological membranes with Pockels Linear Electro-Optical Microscopy (PLEOM). Since Pockels effect requires a breaking of centro-symmetry, this can be satisfied easily and remotely in statistically oriented arrangement of molecules in biomimetic membranes built using our method. Highly stable and flexible biomimetic membranes can be formed at the interface of microdroplets, when these are brought close to each other through a tiny pore grooved inside the microfluidic device structure. Different applications of this approach, like understanding the effect of the membrane permeation on the PLEOM signature or developing an electrode-free technique for monitoring neuronal electric activity will be investigated during a starting PhD thesis by M. Zain Hayat.




Figure: 1a) droplets formation principle, 1b) double layer microfluidic device with an upper and a lower microchannels; 2) Biomimetic membranes can be obtained at the interface of trapped microdroplets in adjacent microchannels.