Resources

Useful knowledge, tools and tips.

Working with mRNA

Our mRNA is shipped frozen on dry ice. If your mRNA arrives thawed or the dry ice has evaporated, please contact us immediately.
Store mRNA at less than -40°C wherever possible. Thaw and work with mRNA on ice.
Upon first use, pulse spin before opening, and aliquot into single-use volumes to avoid future freeze-thaw cycles.
mRNA should be handled in an RNase-free environment, such as a Biological Safety Cabinet, that has been UV sterilised and cleaned.
Always use single-use, RNase-free equipment, consumables and reagents. The use of barrier tips is recommended.
Avoid vortexing and shaking to prevent shearing of mRNA.

Transfecting mRNA

The performance of our mRNA has been extensively validated in many experiments and cell-types.

We typically use MessengerMAX (Invitrogen) as a transfection reagent to deliver mRNA to cells. However, electroporation of mRNA may be preferable depending on the cell type.

(Right Figure) eGFP mRNA expression in mouse embyronic neurons.

LNP Formulation

LNPs should be stored and handled carefully to prevent instability, which includes changes to particle size, aggregation and mRNA leakage. Poor quality LNPs can result in poor delivery and activity.
LNP quality is measured using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and RiboGreen encapsulation assays.
Freshly prepared mRNA/LNPs perform best, but LNPs can be stored at -80C, -20C, 4C and room temperature. Frozen LNPs should be stored with a cryoprotectant, such as sucrose.
LNPs should be stored out of light, and avoid shaking or vortexing.
For further experimental details on mRNA/LNP stability, please see Kamiya et. al., Pharmaceutics

Synthetic DNA templates

Watch our webinar with Dr Seth Cheetham, in partnership with Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), shows how to quickly DNA templates can be made for synthesis of mRNA for pre-clinical research.

References

Kamiya et. al., Stability Study of mRNA-Lipid Nanoparticles Exposed to Various Conditions Based on the Evaluation between Physicochemical Properties and Their Relation with Protein Expression Ability. Pharmaceutics. 2022 Oct 31;14(11):2357.