Altogen Biosystems, Transfection Technology & Services

By Author: Dmitriy Ovcharenko
Total Articles: 3698
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Involved in the development, marketing and manufacture of cell line specific transfection reagents for delivering biomolecules through the intracellular process, Altogen Biosystems is a life sciences company involved in cutting edge research. By applying their expertise in molecular biology, combinatorial chemistry and cell biology Altogen Biosystems is dedicated in the development of polymer-lipid and nanoparticle based transfection technologies.

Altogen Biosystems is a leading manufacturer and developer of cell type specific, pre-optimized kits and products. For testing pharmaceuticals in animals, the company had already developed lipid and polymer based in vivo transfection reagents.

For laboratory and research facility use in animal testing, a new and novel Nano-based transfection reagent was launched recently by Altogen Biosystems.

While transformation is usually used to describe non-viral DNA transfer in bacteria and non-animal eukaryotic cells like algae, fungi and plants, transfection is a non-viral method of introducing nucleic acids into cells.

By opening transient pores or holes in the ...
... cell plasma membrane to let the uptake of material, transfection introduces nucleic acids into cells. Transfection can be done with genetic material and proteins such as antibodies. Liposomes, produced in transfection by mixing of cationic lipid with the material, fuse with the cell plasma membrane to dposit their cargo.

Basically, transfection is a major laboratory method for introducing DNA and RNA molecules into cells and tissues. Through this path-breaking technique, cellular barriers are crossed to deliver a gene or a RNS (siRNA) into the cells to aid research and for therapeutic purposes. Biological laboratories use the technique for studying gene function, modulation of gene expression, mutation analysis, biochemical mapping and protein production. Gene delivery of molecules like plasmid DNA(pDNA), messenger RNA(mRNA), short interfering RNA(siRNA) and micro RNA(MRNA) into cancer lines and primary cells have been used by scientists. But there is no one-size-fits-all transfection reagent for all types of cells as cytotoxicity and transfection efficiencies depend on the cell type, protocol and reagent used. Pre-optimized transfection kits for more than 60 cell types are offered by Altogen Biosystems.

Many methods and materials as carriers have been used for transfection like polymers, liposomes and nanoparticles.

Transfection by calcium phosphate is one of the cheapest methods. Other methods use dendrimers to bind the DNA for penetrating the cell. Inclusion of DNA to be transfected in liposomes by fusing with the cell membrane and releasing the DNA into the cell is a very efficient method.

Alltogen Biosystems transforms cell line to express vector or gene of interest by offering generation of stable cell lines. Based on the methods, transfected genetic material can be expressed in target cells transiently---used to analyze short term impact of altered gene or protein expression--- or permanently.

Development of transfection reagents, design and synthesis of iRNA, its transfection optimization are RNAi services.