Supported lipid membranes with designed geometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method combining 3D micro-printing and replica-molding lithography to create supported lipid membranes with precisely designed geometries, enabling advanced studies of membrane curvature effects.

Contribution

It provides a general, high-resolution fabrication strategy for lipid membranes with customizable shapes, addressing previous limitations in membrane curvature control.

Findings

Supported lipid membranes are homogeneous and fluid.

Membranes can form chemically distinct lipid domains.

The method enables precise control of membrane geometry.

Abstract

The membrane curvature of cells and intracellular compartments continuously adapts to enable cells to perform vital functions, from cell division to signal trafficking. Understanding how membrane geometry affects these processes in vivo is challenging because of the membrane complexity as well as the short time and small length scales involved. By contrast, in vitro model membranes with engineered curvature provide a versatile platform for this investigation and applications to biosensing and biocomputing. However, a general route to the fabrication of lipid membranes with prescribed curvature and high spatial resolution is still missing. Here, we present a strategy that overcomes these challenges and achieve lipid membranes with designed shape by combining 3D micro-printing and replica-molding lithography to create scaffolds with virtually any geometry and high spatial resolution. The resulting supported lipid membranes are homogeneous, fluid, and can form chemically distinct lipid domains. These features are essential for understanding curvature-dependent cellular processes and developing programmable bio-interfaces for living cells and nanostructures.