A Miniaturized Single Channel Amplifier for Various Different Electrophysiology Setup

Different electrophysiology setups allow single ion channel recordings using Lipid Bilayer Membrane (BLM) for protein insertion. Ion channels are transmembrane proteins involved in many biological process of cell life. They are used as target for drug discovery and single-molecule sensors. Synthetic nanopores can also be used as nano-coulter counters and very promising transducers for DNA sequencing. Complex protocols are under investigation to assembly ion channels on reconstituted lipid membranes. They use different setups, ranging from suspended BLM, microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip devices, planar patch clamp, tip-dip method. These studies, com- bined to new emerging nanopore applications, require high sensitive and high resolution instrumentation, able to detect small currents (in the pA range) over large bandwith (up to 100kHz), providing flexible voltage stimuli generation. We present a compact and complete system for single ion channels and syn- thetic nanopores experiment, useful for scientists and students for academic purposes.