Functional Integration of Membrane Proteins with Nanotube and Nanowire Transistor Devices

Biological molecules perform a sophisticated array of transport and signaling functions that rival anything that the modern electronics industry can create. Incorporating such building blocks into nanoelectronic devices could enable new generations of electronic circuits that use biomimetics to perform complicated tasks. Such types of circuits could ultimately blur the interface between living biological organisms and synthetic structures. Our laboratory has recently developed a versatile and flexible platform for integrating ion channels and pumps into single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) and silicon nanowire (SiNW) transistor devices, in which membrane proteins are embedded in a lipid bilayer shell covering the nanotube or nanowire component. In this chapter, we provide details for the fabrication of these devices and outline procedures for incorporating biological molecules into them. In addition, we also provide several examples of the use of these devices to couple biological transport to electronic signaling.