Cell Culture Products: R&D Systems

Cell culture is defined as the removal of cells from their natural environment and placed into a satisfactory in vitro environment in a laboratory for further study. It is a necessary technique across the world of cell biology research. The success of cell culture depends on the optimization of the culture conditions with appropriate levels of:

Gases (O₂, CO₂), pH, pressure, and temperature
Suitable media to provide the needed nutrients, minerals, salts, and amino acids
Effective growth factors to maintain phenotype and overall cell health
Proper cell attachment substrates for adherent cell cultures

We are proud to support cell culture with high quality reagents including cell culture media, serum, defined media supplements, highly bioactive growth factors and small molecules, hydrogels, extracellular matrices, and basement membrane extracts for cell culture attachment, cryopreservation media, tools for cell isolation and cell selection, standardized cell differentiation kits, and an extensive portfolio for cell culture manipulation and analysis. Why Choose Cell Culture Products from R&D Systems?

View all GMP Capabilities at Bio-Techne.

Cell Culture Essentials

Basement Membrane Extracts

Classical Media

Balanced Salt Solutions

Serum Products

Media Supplements

Antibiotics & Antimycotics

Featured Videos and Protocols

Cultrex BME Best Practices

Webinar Short: CellXVivo Kits for the Differentiation or Expansion of Immune Cells

Isolation and Culture of Primary Cells from Bone Marrow

Cryopreservation
Differentiation Kits
Immunoassays and Multianalyte Analysis
Cell Viability, Staining, Migration, and Invasion

Specialty Cell Culture

Each cell culture system is unique and demands different needs to be successful. We offer options including xeno and serum-free formulations, fully optimized media and kits to isolate and expand specific cell phenotypes, and custom media and serum services to provide the optimal culture conditions for your cells.

Primary Cell Culture
Explore all of our reagents and specialized media for the culture of primary cell lines.

Stem Cell Culture
We support all aspects of the stem cell culture workflow. From media, growth factors, and small molecules to fully optimized kits, our reagents and products increase consistency in your data from cell expansion, verification, differentiation and the investigation of your final cell populations.

Neural Cell Culture
We provide specialized media supplements, substrates, proteins, antibodies, and neuromodulatory compounds for the culture of all neural cell types. Our reagents have been designed to maintain and improve consistency across your cultures.

Immune Cell Culture
We provide media, cell isolation and enrichment kits, flow cytometry-validated antibodies, and differentiation and expansion kits for the study of all subsets of immune cells.

Organoid Cell Culture
Explore full organoid and 3D cell culture recipes, protocols, literature and more on our Organoids and 3D Cell Culture Guide.

Adult Epithelial Stem Cell Culture
Discover recipes for the culture and expansion of adult epithelial stem cells with base media, growth matrix, and markers to explore this diverse cell culture model.

Custom Media and Serum Services
Do you have a specific cell culture need not met by a commercial product? Speak with our custom and bulk services team to develop the culture media, serum formulation, or unique growth factor cocktail you need to succeed in cell culture.

Extracellular Matrices + Cell Adhesion

The support your cells receive can influence their growth, proliferation, and overall cell health. The extracellular matrix in cell culture provides a 3D network of macromolecules such as collagen, glycoproteins, and enzymes to support cells in both 2D and 3D cell culture. Several methods exisit for cell harvesting, and we are proud to provide you with options as unique as your specific cell culture.

NEW! Cultrex UltiMatrix Reduced Growth Factor Basement Membrane Extract

This matrix hydrogel is designed specifically to support organoid, spheroid, and pluripotent stem cell culture. Cultrex UltiMatrix Reduced Growth Factor Basement Membrane Extract features optimized extracellular protein content, concentration, and consistency.

Cultrex Basement Membrane Extracts (BMEs)

The substrate you choose to grow your cell cultures on is a pivotal component to cell culture success. Cultrex BME is validated for specific applications and available in reduced growth factor formats.

Cultrex Extracellular Matrices (ECMs)

Cultrex ECM proteins provide defined substrates for cell adhesion for cell cultures. We have a full range of ECMs including Laminin, Vitronectin, Collagens, and more.

Trypsin and other Cell Harvesting Reagents

Collection of your cells for further analysis plays a key role in your research. Explore the options to gently release your adherent cell cultures for downstream use and cell analysis.

Recombinant Proteins, Growth Factors, and Cytokines

Explore the world’s premiere sources of recombinant proteins for cell culture. Our proteins lead in bioactivity and lot-to-lot-consistency to ensure reproducibility in your hands. We offer basic cell culture proteins and growth factors for all types of cell culture along with an extensive portfolio of cytokines for the stimulation and activation of your cell cultures.

All Recombinant Proteins
View our entire portfolio of recombinant proteins. Filter on the needs of your cell culture system and quickly find what you are looking for.

GMP/Animal-free Proteins
Our GMP cytokines and growth factors provide the high-quality raw materials to support ex vivo cell manufacturing for cell therapies and other applications. We have the largest portfolio of GMP proteins on the market, with options for Animal-Free and Animal Carrier Free proteins as well.

Unique Model Organisms
Cell culture often expands beyond the mouse, rat, and human cell lines. We are proud to provide options for unique model organisms including rabbit, dog, yeast, horse, bacteria, and much more.

Cell Isolation/Selection

Cell isolation and enrichment can be achieved by either positive or negative cell selection and operates by magnetic separation or size exclusion. We are proud to offer a variety of methods for cell isolation and selection, as unique as your cell culture system.

MagCellect^™ Kits
Standard, bead-based magnetic cell selection kit, these kits are available for positive or negative cell selection. Browse options by cell type of interest, or explore by specific markers of interest.

Cryopreservation

The method by which you preserve your cells for long term storage can affect their health and ability to be re-cultured in the future. Our freezing media provide long term stability, high cell viability, and reduced cell shock in the freeze/thaw processes.

Cryopreservation Media
We offer serum-containing and serum-free freezing media to support the needs of your cell culture system.

Custom Media and Cryopreservation Services
Need a unique formulation for freezing media? Speak with a member of our custom and bulk services team to find a solution today!

Differentiation Kits

The differentiation of cells from precursors is a highly studied field with varying protocols and significant timelines to cell product. We have optimized several kits that provide reliable differentiation of a number of cell types. With easy-to-use protocols and optimized reagents, save time on the culture and differentiation of your cells and focus on results.

Immune Cell Differentiation
Our CellXVivo^™ line of immune cell differentiation kits provide a highly standardized method, with optimized protocols and cytokine combinations, for the reliable differentiation of both human and mouse immune cells including dendritic cells, macrophages, T helper (Th) cells, Regulatory T cells (Tregs), Natural Killer (NK) cells, and much more. Explore our options today!

Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) Differentiation
Functional identification of MSCs is best evaluated by measuring their ability to differentiate into the multiple mesenchymal lineages of adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteocytes. We provide StemXVivo™ in vitro differentiation kits complete with specialty media supplements and antibodies for the identification of MSC lineages.

Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation Kits
These standardized and optimized kits provide you with everything you need to reliably differentiate intermediate and terminal cell types from embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Our StemXVivo Differentiation Kits include differentiation into ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm, hepatocytes, or neural progenitor cells.

Immunoassays and Multianalyte Analysis

Once you have the cells you want in culture, analysis and investigation is the next step! R&D Systems provides a number of immunoassay-based analysis options for you to explore what is really happening in your cell cultures.

ELISA Assays
R&D Systems is the most trusted name in ELISAs. With do-it-yourself formats and fully optimized kits available, find the assay that will work best for you.

Luminex Assays and Instrumentation
If multianalyte detection is what you need, R&D Systems provides a wide range of Luminex assays for the detection and quantification of multiple targets simultaneously. Customize your Luminex assay or find one of our fixed panels to support your research.

Ella: The Automated ELISA Platform
Step into the next generation ELISA with Ella. A fully automated platform for immunoassays in just 90 minutes. With sub-picogram levels of detection and highly reproducible, it rivals the best in laboratory automation. Learn More at bio-techne.com.

Explore All Options for Immunoassays from R&D Systems and Bio-Techne

Cell Viability, Proliferation, and Staining

Cell Proliferation, Viability Assays
We provide a variety of assays for the fast, reliable evaluation of cell proliferation and viability including: Resazurin, MTT Assays, XTT Assays, and several viability staining dyes.

Apoptosis Detection
We offer a wide selection of reagents and assays to assess apoptosis activity in your cell cultures via TUNEL assays, antibody arrays, mitochondrial potential disruption assays, and more.

DNA Damage and Repair
DNA Damage detection is important to analyze the health of your cell cultures as well as used in drug screening, toxicology studies, and errors in cellular metabolism and replication. We offer several options to assess DNA Damage including PARP Assays, CometAssays, Superoxide Dismutase Assays, and DNA Damage and Repair Enzymes. Explore All Options.

View All Fluorescent Probes for Cell Culture

View All Antibodies for ICC or IHC

Why Choose Cell Culture Products from R&D Systems?

Bioactivity & Performance
All our products are held to the highest quality standards, undergoing extensive QC and release testing. Your cell culture proteins go further with us.

Lot-to-Lot Consistency
Every lot of media, supplements, serum, and all other cell culture products pass our rigorous quality control standards. We only release the very best to our customers, so you know your product will perform consistently in your cultures.

Affordability
With several options of product sampling available, you can test before you buy to ensure our supplements and serum will work for you. Our competitive pricing, high bioactivity, and options for bundling all your reagents from one place allow you to stretch your budget farther.

Variety and Selection
R&D Systems offers everything you need to culture cells in 2D and 3D cultures in a variety of formats.