What is "bacmam"

Baculovirus gene transfer into Mammalian cells, known from scientific research articles as BacMam, is the use of baculovirus to deliver genes to mammalian cells. Baculoviruses are insect cell viruses that can be modified to express proteins in mammalian cells. The unmodified baculovirus is able to enter mammalian cells, however its genes are not expressed unless a mammalian recognizable promoter is incorporated upstream of a gene of interest. Both unmodified baculovirus and baculovirus modified with a mammalian promoter (BacMam) are unable to replicate in humans and are thus non infectious.

Invented by Dr. Frederick M. Boyce, BacMam is a baculovirus-mediated gene transfer technique that has gained widespread use because of advantages when compared to other transfection methods, (for reviews see, Kost, T.A. et al,). In addition, BacMam has been found to have inherent flexibility over stable cell lines, which has contributed to its adoption as a standard gene transfer technique.