transfection/transformation

[Anton Scott Goustin]

kay at lyon151.inserm.fr (Alan KAY) wrote:

>To avoid confusion, most people use the word transfection to describe 
>the introduction of DNA into eucaryotic cells, although I don't know
>who coined the term.

Good question. The term was in use in the late 1970s in a restricted
sense, to describe the introduction of naked viral DNA into cells 
["transfection"] as opposed to the introduction of the same viral
genomes inside their complete viral packages ["infection"].

Someone once told me that Alex van der Eb used it first in mammalian
cells, but I cannot state whether this is true.