Over the past several decades, supported lipid membranes have been used as model systems of cellular membranes, to investigate various membrane interactions, and as platforms for development of bio-sensors. Precise structural characterization by x-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence diffraction at the solid-liquid interface coupled to high resolution force spectroscopy offers a wealth of insight into membrane organization, self-assembly, and domain formation as well as how membranes respond to changes in their environment.  In this talk, I will discuss some recent advances in our understanding of supported membranes including (1) high resolution details regarding the inorganic-organic interface; (2) changes in the membrane structure with fabrication method, temperature, and solution conditions; (3) a robust polymer cushioned membrane system for biosensing applications, (4) the rate at which lipids flip across the membrane, and (5) a novel, “textured” lipid phase induced by specific-multivalent protein binding to membrane embedded receptors. The talk will particularly highlight the importance of x-ray scattering techniques for single, lipid bilayer structural characterization.