Bio-Rad Offers Solutions for Difficult-to-Transfect Cells

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has announced the availability of a new technical note (number 5686) entitled “Optimization of Electroporation Conditions for Jurkat Cells Using the Gene Pulser MXcell™ Electroporation System”, which offers a comparative study of gene transfer methods.

Electroporation is a tool used for nucleic acid delivery since it can be used for a wide variety of cell types including primary and difficult–to-transfect mammalian cells. While defining electroporation conditions specific to these cell types can be both challenging and time consuming, Bio-Rad’s Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system is making this process easier by enabling scientists to vary multiple electroporation conditions so they can perform experiments with minimal delay.

The technical note describes the optimal electroporation conditions developed for Jurkat cells, a difficult-to-transfect cell line, using the Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system and Gene Pulser® electroporation buffer. The results were compared to the transfection efficiency of a competitor’s instrument in which optimization was performed by varying proprietary buffers using preset protocols. Finally, a time-course experiment was conducted to assess successful delivery of both siRNA and plasmid DNA into the cells.

The results demonstrate that gene silencing was achieved using the Gene Pulser MXcell system after just four hours; and the silencing persisted for 48 hours. In addition, results from the four-hour time point suggest that plasmid DNA was successfully delivered directly into the nucleus.