Our laboratory studies the interaction between mycobacterium, tuberculosis and the host immune system, with a focus on the initial interaction between the bacterium and the macrophage. There's a variety of gene-disruption techniques used in macrophages, including RNAi technologies and CRISPR technologies. One of the major challenges is the low efficiency of gene disruption in macrophages.
This protocol enables the rapid and high-efficiency genetic manipulation of primary macrophages without the need for cloning and plasmid construction. These methods should be broadly applicable in immunology, enabling researchers to disrupt genes in primary macrophages for a wide array of studies.