Transfection reagents come with a pre-optimized protocol and are ready to use, ensuring high transfection efficiency, excellent cell viability, and increased viral vector titers, with support from research and development through to manufacturing.
Viral Vector Production for CGT
The use of high-quality transfection reagents is essential for the production of viral vectors for Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT), supporting process cost-efficiency and industrial scalability. High productivity in AAV and LV production reduces manufacturing costs and improves therapy accessibility.
FectoVIR®-AAV and FectoVIR®-LV, designed for large-scale production, offer low complexation volumes, long-term stability, and high reproducibility, ensuring efficient and consistent results compared to the gold standard, PEIpro®, which remains available. GMP-grade transfection reagents, manufactured in compliance with ICH Q7 guidelines and supported by comprehensive regulatory documentation, strengthen compliance and quality assurance. Furthermore, risk mitigation is reinforced through comprehensive residual testing services and toxicity statements, ensuring patient safety.
Protein production
Transient production of recombinant proteins or monoclonal antibodies is a key step in research for studying protein behavior in cells, screening and selecting candidate proteins in early stages of therapeutic development, and modulating molecular mechanisms in various other application areas.
FectoPRO® transfection reagent is specifically designed for protein production in mammalian cells. FectoPRO® offers ready-to-use, cost-effective solutions tailored for efficient protein production in HEK-293 and CHO cell lines, ensuring a smooth and effective workflow for research needs.
Life Science Research
Explore Sartorius’ wide range of ready-to-use transfection reagents suitable for most primary cells and mammalian cell lines, along with ready-to-use plasmids that enable effective research in gene expression, genome editing, and RNA interference:
- jetPRIME® delivers high DNA transfection efficiency and excellent gene silencing
- jetOPTIMUS® enhances DNA transfection in hard-to-transfect cells
- INTERFERin® achieves over 90% gene knockdown across a broad range of cell types
- jetMESSENGER® is used for mRNA transfection in primary cells, cancer cell lines, neurons, and stem cells
- jetPEI® is ideal for automated or manual high-throughput screening workflows
- PULSin® is a powerful and efficient reagent for delivering proteins, antibodies, and peptides into mammalian cells
Frequently asked questions
Scientists rely on transfection as a powerful technique to modulate gene expression in eukaryotic cells in vitro and in vivo. Transfection can be used from researchers in universities or research institutes to engineers in Biotechnology or Pharmaceutical companies.
Transfection is the process that allows exogenous nucleic acids to bypass the cell membrane to enter into cells. Exogenous nucleic acids commonly used are plasmid DNA, RNA, siRNA and oligonucleotides. Once delivered into cells, nucleic acids modulate gene expression by driving overexpression or silencing of a gene of interest.
Gene overexpression is an indispensable tool for several applications, from understanding the role of gene of interest (gene studies, high-throughput screening), to the production of biologics such as antibodies (protein production) and recombinant viral particles, particularly for therapeutic purposes (virus production for gene & cell therapy).
Gene silencing is a method used to prevent expression of a gene of interest. The expression of a gene can be partially reduced (gene knockdown) or completely blocked (gene knockout). Because any gene can potentially be targeted, gene silencing is a prevalent technique used to develop gene-based therapies to address monogenic pathologies, cancer and in immunotherapy strategies.
Transfection of nucleic acids is used to transiently or stably modifed cells by overexpressing or silencing specific gene(s). Several methods can be used to performed transfection that are generally divided in two different categories: Chemical and physical. There are several physical methods that exist such as electroporation, sonoporation or microinjection but these processes are complex and relatively toxic for mammalian cells. To solve these issues, chemical-mediated transfection offers a great alternative: easiness of use, high transfection efficiency and excellent cell viability. Chemical transfection are typically performed using cationic polymers or lipids that will protect the anionic nucleic acids.
1. Encapsulation of Genetic Material with Transfection Reagent
Nucleic acids are negatively charged due to their polyphosphate backbone and are thus able to interact with positively charged transfection reagents (polymers or lipids). This results in the formation of transfection complexes or nanoparticles, which protect nucleic acids from degradation by nucleases.
2. Cellular Uptake of Nanoparticle
Most cells express negatively charged heparan sulfate proteoglycans on the external surface of their cell membrane, with which positively charged transfection complexes can interact. This interaction is key to trigger cellular uptake via an endocytosis process.
3. Release into the Cytosol and if Needed Transport into the Nucleus for Transcription
Upon cellular uptake, transfection complexes are sequestrated into intracellular vesicles. Our transfection reagents enable the release of nucleic acids into the cytoplasm through vesicle membrane rupture or fusion. Most nucleic acids (oligonucleotides, siRNA, mRNA, etc) stay in the cytoplasm where they are active. In case of gene transfer, plasmid DNA is transported into the nucleus for transient expression) which can become permanent after genome integration (stable expression).
