According to CEO and co-founder Rainer Christine, nucleofection is based on electroporation; a proprietary combination of electronic parameters and buffer solutions delivers DNA directly into the cell's nucleus. In contrast, traditional electroporation or lipofection techniques first deliver DNA into the cytoplasm, and nuclear import occurs only after the cell divides. The direct transfer of DNA not only enables non-dividing cells to be transfected, but also increases the speed of the assay for any cell type; whereas genes delivered using traditional transfection methods can take up to 72 hours to be expressed, nucleofected genes can be expressed within four to eight hours. "What we see is that gene expression starts very early. As soon as an hour after gene transfer you can see protein expression," says Christine.
Applications of Nucleofector technology include functional genomics, target validation, and lead generation. Christine also points out that the technology could facilitate gene therapy. "As ...
