Patent ID: 8343766

Claim:
A method for transient biological transformation comprising: providing at least one living biological cell having an intact cell membrane defining an intracellular domain; providing an exogenous component; providing a cellular penetrant structure having a compartment and being dimensioned to extend through the cell membrane into the intracellular domain to position the compartment within the intracellular domain without significantly damaging the cell; fixing the exogenous component within the compartment of the cellular penetrant structure to produce a compartmentalized exogenous component by loading the exogenous component into the compartment, immobilizing the component within the compartment by forming a covalent bond between the component and a surface within the compartment, such compartment being dimensioned to partially restrict access to the immobilized component within the cell; and introducing the compartmentalized exogenous component to the intracellular domain of the cell by forcing the cellular penetrant structure and the component immobilized within the compartment into the intracellular domain of the cell, wherein the component is retained within the compartment and wherein the component is expressed by the cell only when the penetrant structure and the component are present within the intracellular domain of the cell.