Life Technologies™ transfection reagents offer options for DNA, siRNA, oligonucleotide, and RNA delivery, giving you more confidence in your results.

  • Superior delivery—transfect a broad range of cell types, including those notoriously difficult to transfect, with high  efficiency
  • Nontoxic performance—you see results due to the presence of your nucleic acid, not the reagent
  • Less optimization—rapid, simple protocols provided for most cell lines

Transfection reagent selection guide

ReagentDNAmRNARNAiCo-
delivery		Easy-to-transfect adherent cellsHard-to-transfect adherent cellsSuspension cells
NEW Lipofectamine® 3000
Lipofectamine® RNAiMAX  
Lipofectamine® 2000
Lipofectamine® LTX   
Neon® Electroporation
Invivofectamine® 2.0  N/AN/AIn vivo
ReagentDNAmRNARNAiCo-
delivery		NeuronsStem CellsBlood CellsOthers
NEW Lipofectamine® 3000
Lipofectamine® RNAiMAX  
Lipofectamine® 2000
Lipofectamine® LTX   
Neon® Electroporation
Invivofectamine® 2.0  N/AN/AIn vivo 
Cell Lines
ReagentDNAmRNARNAiCo-
delivery		Easy-to-transfect adherent cellsHard-to-transfect adherent cellsSuspension cells
NEW Lipofectamine® 3000
Lipofectamine® RNAiMAX  
Lipofectamine® 2000
Lipofectamine® LTX   
Neon® Electroporation
Invivofectamine® 2.0  N/AN/AIn vivo
Primary Cells
ReagentDNAmRNARNAiCo-
delivery		NeuronsStem CellsBlood CellsOthers
NEW Lipofectamine® 3000
Lipofectamine® RNAiMAX  
Lipofectamine® 2000
Lipofectamine® LTX   
Neon® Electroporation
Invivofectamine® 2.0  N/AN/AIn vivo 

Additional Life Technologies™ transfection reagents

Transfection reagentKey features & applications of reagent
ExpiFectamine® 293 Transfection Kit
  • Designed for transfection of high density suspension cell culture, with matching transfection enhancers that boost transfection performance and protein expression
  • Achieves protein yields 2- to 10-fold higher than other transfection reagents used on high density 293 cell cultures
  • Provides robust and reproducible transfection results
  • Scale transfections for culture volumes of less than 1 mL to greater than 10 liters, while maintaining equivalent volumetric protein yields
FreeStyle® MAX Transfection Reagent
  • Optimized for transient transfection in CHO suspension cells and also works for HEK-293 cells
  • Used for a large-scale transient protein production with milligrams of protein yield
Lipofectamine® 2000 CD Transfection Reagent
  •  Same performance as Lipofectamine® 2000, certified animal-origin free (“CD” = chemically defined)
Oligofectamine® Transfection Reagent
  • Transfection of antisense oligonucleotides
293fectin™ Transfection Reagent
  • Used for transient protein production in combination with the FreeStyle™ 293 Expression System
  • Optimized for suspension FreeStyle™ 293-F cells
Cellfectin® II Transfection Reagent
  • Optimal transfection of insect cells, including S2, Sf9, Sf21 and High Five™ cells
DMRIE-C Transfection Reagent
  • Transfection of suspension cells, including CHO, lymphoid and Jurkat cell lines.
Lipofectamine® Transfection Reagent
  • First generation reagent for plasmid DNA transfections
  • In most cases, Lipofectamine® 2000 provides better performance than Lipofectamine® Transfection Reagent
Lipofectin® Transfection Reagent
  • First generation reagent for plasmid DNA transfections
  • In most cases, Lipofectamine® 2000 provides better performance than Lipofectin® Transfection Reagent
Optifect™ Transfection Reagent
  • Broad use reagent designed for low confluency applications (<70% confluent at the time of transfection)
  • Useful for cell lines that are sensitive to transfection reagents

General information