Supported membranes offer many advantages, including the ability to use surface characterization techniques. Fluorescence Interference Contrast Microscopy (FLIC [230]) and Variable Incidence Angle-FLIC (VIA-FLIC [233]) are two such techniques used in our lab to probe lipid bilayers. FLIC and VIA-FLIC use interferometry, or the interference of light waves off a reflective surface, to precisely determine the height of fluorescent objects relative to the surface.  Our lab has developed a new geometry where lipid bilayers are suspended over a well in silicon dioxide, as shown in the cartoon above. [265] This positions the suspended bilayer within a few hundred nm of an atomically flat mirror, so that the precise positions of fluorophores and small conformational changes in labeled proteins can be measured by FLIC or VIA-FLIC.   Current work is directed towards incorporating electrodes into the device so that simultaneous high precision optical and electrical measurements can be made on the same protein, e.g. on ion channels. 

"Variable Incidence Angle Fluorescence Interference Contrast Microscopy for Z-Imaging Single Objects. Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin, Prasad V. Ganesan, and Steven G. Boxer. Biophysical Journal, 89, 2759-2769, (2005). [pdf]