Semiconductor nanocrystals, such as quantum dots (QDs) have a variety of interesting applications both as medical and as research tools. In particular, it is of great interest to understand the mechanism by which these nanoparticles interact with and cross the cell membrane. Here, QDs, such as cadmium selenide / zinc sulfide core shell (CdSe/ZnS) nanoparticles are shown to interact with lipid bilayers painted on picoliter microelectrode cavities and to produce rapid current bursts with half widths in the range of tens of microseconds and amplitudes in the 100 pA to nA range. These bursts are voltage dependent and are observed in both polarities. The voltage-dependence of the burst frequency is strongly influenced by external solution parameters like pH and salt valency, charge of the lipids, bilayer size and also nanoparticle size and charge. Correlating these findings with results of dynamic light scattering (zetasizer), we present evidence that electrostatic interactions play a pivotal role in generating the current bursts. Future experiments will focus on optical characterization in order to obtain more insight into the mechanism of interaction.