Alternating magnetic field plate for enhanced magnetofection of iron oxide nanoparticle conjugated nucleic acids

Abstract Magnet-assisted transfection or magnetofection refers to the delivery of nucleic acids to target cells with the help of conjugated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and external magnetic fields generated by permanent magnet plates. The external magnetic field, among other parameters, directly affects the transfection efficiency. However, standard permanent magnet plates generate static magnetic fields which are not as effective compared to time-varying, dynamic fields. In this work, we show a new and novel “AC magnet plate” compatible with standard 96-well cell culture plates, which can be easily adapted for benchtop use in a typical lab setting. We provide full design details, modelling, fabrication, measurement and testing on human embryonic kidney cells (HEK 293) to show transfection improvement. We perform magnetofection under different field conditions and show that with increasing AC content, efficiency of transfection is improved.