Entrapment of membrane proteins in sol-gel derived silica

The last decade has seen a revolution in the area of sol-gel-derived biomaterials since the demonstration that these materials can be used to encapsulate biological species such as enzymes, antibodies and other proteins in a functional state. In particular, recent years have seen tremendous progress on the use of sol-gel entrapment for immobilization of biological bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) and membrane bound receptors. This is a …