Special Delivery

Active Motif's Chariot reagent enables rapid protein transduction

The delivery of biomolecules into cells has typically been achieved through the use of chemicals, electroporation, or viral vectors. Each of these techniques has its drawbacks: for example, calcium phosphate- mediated transfections suffer from low reproducibility, electroporation-based transfections can be cytotoxic, and viral vector-based transfections pose safety concerns and can be time-consuming. In addition, these techniques are primarily limited to the introduction of nucleic acids into cells; while methods for protein delivery have been reported, these tend to be time-consuming and technically difficult as well.¹

To help solve these problems, Active Motif of Carlsbad, Calif., has introduced the Chariot transfection reagent, which is capable of introducing molecules such as peptides, antibodies, and small and large proteins into mammalian cells. The reagent forms noncovalent complexes with the proteins, peptides, or antibodies to be delivered, generating a cage around the macromolecule that protects...