Bio-Rad Laboratories has announced the availability of a technical note entitled 'Transfection of Mouse and Human Embryonic Stem cells by Electroporation Using the Gene Pulser MXcell System'.
The technical note examines ways to optimise electroporation parameters for the efficient transfer of DNA into mouse embryonic stem cells and human embryonic stem cells that have been grown under colony-forming and feeder-free conditions.
Historically, electroporation has been the method of choice for introducing genes into mouse embryonic stem cells.
However, compared to mouse embryonic stem cells, human embryonic stem cells have shown low cell viability and transfection efficiencies after electroporation.
It is important to use a delivery technique such as electroporation that doesn't affect the stem cell phenotype.
Bio-Rad's Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system allows the user to program every critical parameter - from voltage to number of pulses - enabling researchers to find the ideal conditions for their specific cells, including difficult-to-transfect primary and stem cells.
The Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system's open architecture permitted a research team to determine the optimum protocols for efficiently electroporating both mouse and human embryonic stem cells while optimising cell viability.
The full technology note is available through Bio-Rad's website.