The disclosure provides a lipid nanodisc including a lipid bilayer having two opposing hydrophilic faces and a hydrophobic edge between the hydrophilic faces, and a copolymer encircling the hydrophobic edge of the lipid bilayer, the copolymer including a first monomeric unit including a pendant aromatic group, and a second monomeric unit including a pendant hydrophilic group, wherein the first monomeric unit and the second monomeric unit are present in the copolymer is a molar ratio ranging from 1:1 to 3:1 for the first monomeric unit:the second monomeric unit. The disclosure further provides a method of making the polymer-based lipid nanodiscs of the disclosure and methods of characterizing membrane proteins using the polymer-based lipid nanodiscs of the disclosure.