Reinnervate (Sedgefield, UK) and Mirus Bio (Madison, USA) today announced a commercial agreement to launch a new range of products for the transfection of cells cultured in 3D.

Under the agreement, Mirus will produce and sell kits combining TransIT^®-3D Transfection Reagent, alvetex^® 3D cell culture plates and detailed protocols for achieving transfection of selected cell lines growing in 3D.

The kits will enable scientists to evaluate the growth of cells in 3D, allowing more native cell structure, morphology and functionality before transfection with a specific gene of interest with a robust transfection protocol.

"Scientists are increasingly looking for in-vitro cell-based assays that better mimic and predict complex biological processes", commented Richard Rowling, Commercial Director at Reinnervate. "We believe the 3D Transfection System will be of broad appeal for cell biologists seeking to improve their research capabilities beyond the limitations of mono-layer culture. We are delighted to be collaborating with Mirus to help make 3D cell culture a more routine laboratory technique".

Scott Hayes (R&D Director of Mirus Bio) added "Cell based research is actively moving towards cellular models, such as 3D cell culture, that more accurately represent intact tissue," said Scott Hayes, Vice President of Scientific Operations at Mirus Bio, LLC. "With the introduction of the TransIT^®-3D Transfection Reagent, Mirus addresses an unmet need for efficient delivery of nucleic acids to cells established and propagated in a 3D cell culture environment. By combining the TransIT^®-3D  Transfection Reagent with the innovative scaffold structure of alvetex^® plates from Reinnervate, researchers will have access to a cell culture model that is more biologically relevant than routine 2D culture and amenable to easy and high-efficiency transfection."

Financial terms were not disclosed.

About alvetex^®

alvetex^® is a unique polystyrene material that provides a robust and inert scaffold for cells to grow and form complex 3D structures in the laboratory, mimicking the normal growth and formation of tissues in the body. Reinnervate has extensively tested and validated alvetex^® with a large number of cell types, including liver, skin, cancer and stem cells, all of which have important applications in basic research into cell development, disease modelling and drug safety screening.

alvetex^® has been launched globally in several formats: a 12-well culture plate, 6-well and 12-well inserts and a deep petri dish. These formats provide researchers with an exceptional degree of versatility in how they choose to construct different 3D cell culture models. Through enabling alternative applications, such as long-term 3D cell culture over several weeks, 3D cell growth at air/liquid interface and 3D cell growth with different media constituents, to be performed simply and routinely, reinnervate continues to make genuine 3D cell culture a reality for researchers today.

alvetex^® was named among the winners of The Scientist magazine's "Top 10 Life Science Innovations of 2010" and was selected among the most technologically significant of 2010 in the 49th Annual R&D100 Awards.

See the company video - www.reinnervate.com/company-video 
  

About Mirus Bio

The Transfection Experts. More than 15 years of gene delivery expertise.
The TransIT^®-3D Transfection Reagent complements Mirus Bio's transfection offerings which include TransIT^®-LT1 Broad Spectrum Transfection Reagent, TransIT-TKO^® siRNA Transfection Reagent and a multi-platform, non-chemical alternative: Ingenio^® Electroporation Kits.

Mirus pioneered scientific breakthroughs in non-viral gene delivery. These advances established our products as industry leading transfection reagents. At Mirus, we continue to expand on our expertise in nucleic acid delivery research and products to better serve you.