Patent ID: 7923207

Claim:
A method of reverse transfection for introducing siRNA into a cell to effect gene silencing, the method comprising: providing a well plate, the well plate having a plurality of wells with a dried gene silencing composition deposited in at least one well having at least one siRNA which is capable of silencing a target gene, the at least one siRNA comprising: a sense strand having 2′-O-methyl modifications on the first and second 5′ nucleotides; and an antisense strand having a 2′-O-methyl modification on the second 5′ nucleotide and a 5′ end phosphate; wherein the sense region and the antisense region are capable of forming a duplex of 18-26 base pairs of nucleotides, and wherein nucleotides of the sense strand and antisense strand other than the first 5′ sense nucleotide, the second 5′ sense nucleotide, and the second 5′ antisense nucleotide include a 2′-OH; adding an aqueous medium to the at least one well so as to suspend or solubilize the at least one siRNA into the aqueous medium; and adding cells to the at least one well having the suspended or solubilized at least one siRNA under conditions that permit the at least one siRNA to be introduced into the cell and to effect gene silencing.