PublishedJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tWith the rise in antibiotic resistance amongst pathogenic bacteria, the study of antibiotic activity and transport across cell membranes is gaining widespread importance. We present a novel, label-free microfluidic assay that quantifies the permeability coefficient of a broad spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic, norfloxacin, across lipid membranes using the UV autofluorescence of the drug. We use giant lipid vesicles as highly controlled model systems to study the diffusion through lipid membranes. Our technique directly determines the permeability coefficient without requiring the measurement of the partition coefficient of the antibiotic.This work was supported by a European Research Council
(ERC) grant (261101 PassMembrane) to UFK. JC
acknowledges support from an Internal Graduate Studentship,
Trinity College, Cambridge. CC is supported by the ERC. SP
acknowledges the support of the Leverhulme Trust and the
Newton Trust through an Early Career Fellowship. AJ is
supported by the Mexican National Council of Science and
Technology. We thank Thomas Muller for help with the
lithography and Tuomas Knowles for the use of his lithography
facilitie
