Cheng-Han Yu, Atul N. Parikh, Jay T. Groves, Advanced Materials 17, 1477-1480, 2005

A lithographic method of patterning lipid bilayer membranes on the surface of colloidal particles is described. Three-dimensional, micrometer-resolution patterns on the single fluid lipid bilayer membranes supported on silica microspheres have been generated by in-situ UV photolithography (see Figure). This technique is based on the direct photochemical removal of lipids from the colloid surface in an aqueous environment.