Impalefection

[[Image:Green4.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Front: Scanning electron micrograph of chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) following impalement on a nanofiber array. Background: Optical microscope image of a transformed colony of CHO expressing green fluorescent protein from nanofiber delivered plasmids 22 days following impalement upon DNA modified nanofiber array.

]]Impalefection is a method of gene delivery using nanomaterials, such as carbon nanofibers, nanotubes, nanowires Ref.1. Needle-like nanostructures are synthesized perpendicular to the surface of a substrate. Plasmid DNA containing the gene, intended for intracellular delivery, is attached to the nanostructure surface. A chip with arrays of these needles is then pressed against cells or tissue. Cells that are impaled by nanostructures can express the delivered gene(s).

Similar to transfection, the term is derived from two words - impalement and infection.