This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.The importance of high transfection efficiency has been emphasized in many studies investigating
methods to improve gene delivery. Accordingly, non-viral transfection agents are widely used as transfection
vectors to condense oligonucleotides, DNA, RNA, siRNA, deliver into the cell, and release the cargo.
Polyethyleneimine (PEI) is one of the most popular non-viral transfection agents. However, the challenge
between high transfection efficiency and toxicity of the polymers is not totally resolved. The delivery of
necessary drugs and genes for patients and their transport under safe conditions require carefully designed
and controlled delivery systems and constitute a critical stage of patients’ treatment. Compact systems are
considered as the strongest candidate for the preparation and delivery of drugs and genes under leak free and
safe conditions because of their low energy consumption, low waste disposal, parallel and fast processing
capabilities, removal of human factor, high mixing capabilities, enhanced safety, and low amount of
reagents. Motivated by this need in the literature, a platform for gene delivery via magnetic actuation of
nanoparticles was developed in this study. The use of PEI-SPION (Super paramagnetic ironoxide
nanoparticles) as transfection agents in in vitro studies was investigated with the effect of varying magnetic
fields provided by a special magnetic system design, which was used as magnetic actuator offering different
magnet's turn speeds and directions in the system. Results obtained from magnetic actuator systems were
compared to the experiments without actuation and significant enhancement was observed in the transfection
efficacies
