Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Single Molecule Fluorescence Microscopy on Planar Supported Bilayers
Published on: October 31, 2015
Freestanding lipid bilayers as substrates for electron cryomicroscopy of integral membrane proteins
D E McAlduff1, Y M Heng, F P Ottensmeyer
1Ontario Cancer Institute and Department of Medical Biophysics, 610 University Avenue, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2M9, Canada.
Abstract:
Phospholipid bilayers, 40 A thick, were generated as electron microscope substrates by submerging copper grids overlaid with holey plastic through a lipid monolayer on a water surface. Previously formed proteoliposomes containing single-particle membrane proteins in their bilayers were then fused into the newly formed bilayer substrate. To demonstrate this methodology, multi-drug resistance protein P-glycoprotein was incorporated into these bilayers and imaged by fixed beam microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy.
Related Concept Videos
Asymmetric Lipid Bilayer
Cryo-electron Microscopy

