Conditional Cell Immortalization Plasmid for Basic Science Research
This technology includes a novel plasmid design for cell immortalization. It uniquely combines the conditional activation of human telomerase and c-myc genes through cumate addition, a method distinct from traditional immortalization techniques which commonly use SV40 T-antigen, telomerase, or c-myc. This plasmid also includes a GFP reporter and a puromycin resistance gene, enhancing the efficiency of the immortalization process. A significant breakthrough of this technology is its ability to immortalize neural cells like astrocytes, neurons, and Schwann cells, which have previously shown resistance to immortalization due to the constitutive expression of immortalization genes. The immortalized cell lines produced using this technology are crucial for understanding the fundamental biology of various cell types and have potential applications in drug screening. This approach's competitive advantage lies in its efficiency and effectiveness in cells traditionally challenging to immortalize.