Contents: (Small 7/2013)

A sophisticated planar model of a cell membrane is designed by S. Le Gac and coworkers, comprising various types of phospholipids and including membrane proteins as, for instance, ion channels. Such membrane models are prepared in the microfl uidic platform reported on page 1076 in a quasi-automated manner with a near-100% yield, and are characterized in situ using both electrical and optical techniques. The versatility of the platform is illustrated, with application in experimentation on membranes prepared from various lipid species, electrical measurements on individual nanopores, and early drug screening assays using gramicidin peptides.