Transfection Efficiency

[postdoc]

Generally, transfection can be considered as a major laboratory method in integrating protein, RNA, and DNA molecules into tissues and cells. Delivery of molecules encoding genes like plasmid DNA, messenger RNA and small RNA molecules regulating gene expression (microRNA and siRNA)into the primary cells and cancer cell lines have been applied by the scientists.

Transfection efficiencies greatly depends on specific on the type of the cell, reagent used and the protocol applied. But, there is no single transfection reagent that fits different types of cells - scientists have to test multiple reagents and optimize transfection conditions in order to achieve acceptable transfection efficiency withouit inducing cellular cytotoxicity. There are several pre-optimized transfection reagents commercially available from Altogen Biosystems (http://www.altogen.com) for such cell lines as: MEF, A549, HepG2, Fibroblast, VERO, and many others. Also, in vivo transfection kits allow delivery of protein, DNA, and RNA molecules into animals (http://www.altogen.com/mirna.php).

[biologist]

Chemical transfection, reverse transfection, stable transfection (and efficiecy of such transfection) is very important in the biological research and study of genomics, stem cell research, as well as development of new medicines and treatment protocols. Also, successful gene silencing experiments rely on high transfection efficiency. Choosing the right method of transfection as well as the correct transfection agent is at the basis for the success of the efficiency of various transfection experiments.

Transfections may be performed utilizing lipids, polymers, liposomes, nanoparticles, and other types of reagents. Scientists and researchers have determined that a combination of appropriate transfection reagents as well as quality of plasmid DNA (or RNA) strongly influences the results of such experiments. Using pre-optimized transfection kits and utilizing ultrapure plasmid DNA allow for optimal high transfection efficiency results.

Transfection efficiency is influenced by not only the transfection method utilized, but also the quality of DNA (or RNA) used in the process. Various parameters will affect the efficiency of any transfection attempt, including the type of transfection method, cell cultures, media/serum, etc. However, the two most important parameters for successful transfection efficiency are the quality/purity of DNA (or RNA) and the type of transfection reagent used.

[siRNA]

Altogen Services http://www.altogenservices.com now offers a transfection service that includes the generation of characterized and stable transfectants, the optimization of transfection protocols for particular cell line or primary culture, as well as special services and customized projects that are requested by researcher. Company experience is a big part of their transfection service, they have many years of experience and have been working with scientists in this field for a long time.