Cell Culture Media
The right basal medium is the starting point of every healthy culture. Basal media supply cells with amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts and an energy source. Most are then completed with serum or a defined supplement.
Life Science Group makes classical media in the UK under ISO 13485 and ISO 9001, with full batch traceability. Every lot comes with a Certificate of Analysis.
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- Culture Media
CMRL-1066 medium w/o phenol red and L-Glutamine
- £46.85 500 mL
- CMRL-1066 without phenol red or L-glutamine, so you can add your own supplements. Widely used…
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- Culture Media
DMEM
- Price range: £19.73 through £40.91
- Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium, the go-to basal medium for a wide range of adherent mammalian…
- Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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- Culture Media
MEM
- Price range: £29.20 through £58.40
- Minimum Essential Medium for routine culture of adherent cell lines and primary cells. Custom variants…
- Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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- Culture Media
RPMI 1640
- Price range: £13.57 through £16.36
- The standard medium for lymphocytes, hybridomas and suspension cell lines, and a staple of immunology…
- Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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Which medium for which cells?
| Medium | Commonly used for |
|---|---|
| DMEM (Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium) | A wide range of adherent cells, including fibroblasts, HEK293, HeLa, many cancer cell lines and primary cultures |
| RPMI-1640 | Suspension cells, especially lymphocytes, leukaemia and lymphoma lines such as Jurkat and K562, hybridomas, and immunology work |
| MEM (Minimum Essential Medium) | Routine culture of adherent cell lines and primary cells, and cytotoxicity testing |
| CMRL-1066 | Defined and low-serum culture, and a long-established choice for human islet culture |
A useful rule of thumb is to start with DMEM or MEM for adherent cells and RPMI-1640 for suspension cells. Then follow the medium recommended by your cell bank or in published methods for your cell line.
Variants and supplements
Classical media come in variants, and the right one depends on your cells and assay. The main choices are:
- glucose level
- with or without L-glutamine, or with a stable dipeptide such as L-alanyl-L-glutamine
- with or without phenol red
- with or without HEPES
- with or without sodium pyruvate
Each product page and Certificate of Analysis lists exactly what that medium contains. To complete your medium, see our foetal bovine serum, human AB serum and human platelet lysate.
Custom media manufacture
Can’t find the formulation you need? We make custom and modified media, including your own proprietary formulations. Volumes run from small trial batches up to 2,000 litres, with sterile filtration, aseptic filling and custom packaging. Read more about our custom manufacturing service.
Order online, or discuss a custom medium at sales@lifesciencegroup.co.uk or on +44 1234 889180.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between DMEM and RPMI-1640?
DMEM was developed for adherent mammalian cells and has a richer nutrient profile. RPMI-1640 was developed for human leukocytes and is the standard choice for many suspension and immune cell lines.
What is the difference between MEM and DMEM?
DMEM is a modification of Eagle’s medium with higher concentrations of amino acids and vitamins. MEM is a simpler formulation used for routine culture of many adherent cell lines.
Why choose a medium without phenol red?
Phenol red is a pH indicator. It can interfere with fluorescence and colorimetric assays and has weak oestrogen-like activity, so phenol-red-free media are preferred for those applications.
What is CMRL-1066 used for?
CMRL-1066 was originally developed as a chemically defined medium. Today it is widely used for culturing human pancreatic islets and other demanding cell types.
Do I need to add serum?
Most classical basal media need a supplement such as FBS, human serum or human platelet lysate to support growth. The type and amount depend on your cells.
Can't find what you need?
GMP aligned manufacture of cell culture media, buffers and reagents in the UK. We produce anything from small trial batches up to 2,000 litres backed by ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 accredited quality systems.
