Recombinant retroviruses have been shown to bind to fibronectin (FN) and increase the efficiency of gene transfer to a variety of cell types. Despite recent work to optimize gene transfer on recombinant FN, the mechanism of retrovirus binding to FN and the interactions of target cells with the bound virus remain elusive. We investigated the roles of virus surface glycoprotein (gp70), cell-condi...

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) capillary electrophoresis (CE) microchips were modified by a dynamic coating method that provided stable electroosmotic flow (EOF) with respect to pH. The separation channel was coated with a polymer bilayer consisting of a cationic layer of Polybrene (PB) and an anionic layer of dextran sulfate (DS). According to the difference in charge, PB- and PB/ DS-coated cha...

Stem and tumor cell biology studies often require viral transduction of human cells with known or suspected oncogenes, raising major safety issues for laboratory personnel. Pantropic lentiviruses, such as the commonly used VSV-G pseudotype, are a valuable tool for studying gene function because they can transduce many cell types, including non-dividing cells. However, researchers may wish to av...

Flow-through transduction methods have been developed to overcome physical limitations imposed by Brownian motion on retroviral delivery. This method uses net fluid flow of retroviral supernatants through a porous membrane on which the target cells are placed. It is shown that in comparison to static transduction methods, flow-through transductions have the following advantages: (i) flow-throug...

The relative concentrations of Polybrene (PB) and calf serum (CS) in retroviral supernatant have considerable effects on the efficiency of retrovirus-mediated gene transfer and the stability of retroviral vectors. The effect of PB on the efficiency of transduction of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MMuLV)-derived vectors is strongly dependent on CS. At a fixed CS concentration, the efficiency of...