(346d) Analysis of Nanoparticle Transport In Magnetofection

Magnetofection is a process in which a static magnetic field is used to direct and focus magnetic nanoparticles with surface-bound gene vectors towards target cells to enable transfection. The process enables rapid and highly efficient transfection and has been successfully demonstrated for all types of nucleic acids and across a broad range of cell lines. Magnetofection is well suited for multiwell culture plates wherein the magnetic force is produced by a separate rare-earth magnet positioned beneath each individual culture well. In this presentation we discuss a model for predicting particle transport in the magnetofection process. The model involves the solution of a drift-diffusion equation that governs the particle concentration in the culture well under the influence of a magnetic field. It accounts for the field-induced drift of the particles as well as fluidic drag and Brownian diffusion. The drift-diffusion equation is solved numerically using the finite volume method. We demonstrate the transport model via application to a conventional multiwell culture plate system and study particle transport and accumulation as a function of key system variables. We also study particle transport as the system is scaled from meso to microscale dimensions. The model provides insight into the physics of field-directed particle transport and enables rapid parametric analysis of particle accumulation on the cells, which is useful for optimizing novel magnetofection systems.