Bottle containing Dulbecco's Minimum Essential Medium (DMEM)

Culture your cells with Gibco DMEM

Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) is a widely used basal medium for supporting the growth of many different mammalian cells. Cells successfully cultured in DMEM include primary fibroblasts, neurons, glial cells, HUVECs, and smooth muscle cells, as well as cell lines such as HeLa, 293, Cos-7, and PC-12.

Gibco DMEM is formulated for superior quality, consistency, and control for your mammalian cell culture.

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DMEM composition

Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium contains four times the amino acid and vitamin concentration of original Eagle's Minimal Essential Medium. The original DMEM formulation contained a low concentration of glucose (1 g/L) and sodium pyruvate. However, DMEM is now available in a variety of formulations, including those with higher glucose levels and with or without sodium pyruvate. DMEM also uses a sodium bicarbonate buffer system, allowing for maintenance of physiological pH in a 5–10% CO2 environment. Importantly, DMEM commonly requires fetal bovine serum (FBS) supplementation.

Thermo Fisher Scientific offers a variety of Gibco DMEM formulations to support a wide range of cell culture applications.

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Choose the right DMEM

There are several factors to consider when selecting the right Gibco DMEM composition for your cell culture experiments, including format, supplementation, and additives. Our interactive media formulation tool provides side-by-side comparisons of DMEM formulations, allowing for easy selection of the DMEM you need. Select the following modifications:

  • L-glutamine/GlutaMAX supplementation
  • Phenol red indicator
  • Liquid vs powder formats
  • Serum supplementation
  • Sodium pyruvate additive
  • Glucose additive
  • HEPES additive
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Innovative DMEM formulations

Take your cell culture to the next level with enhanced DMEM formulations. Explore the following formulations that can help improve your cell viability, serum supplementation, cell imaging, and cold storage constraints.

Bottle of Advanced DMEM

Advanced DMEM

Gibco Advanced DMEM is enriched with normal-serum constituents and therefore requires 50–90% less FBS supplementation, helping reduce variability in your cell culture and lower your cost. 

Bottle of FluoroBrite DMEM

FluoroBrite DMEM

Gibco FluoroBrite DMEM is a DMEM-based media formulation with background fluorescence that is 90% lower than that emitted by standard phenol red-free DMEM, enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio of fluorophores to visualize even the weakest fluorescent events. 

BenchStable DMEM product photo

BenchStable DMEM

Gibco BenchStable DMEM is formulated for storage at room temperature, supporting cell proliferation and densities comparable to conventional DMEM while freeing up cold storage space.

Bottle of DMEM with GlutaMAX Supplement

DMEM with GlutaMAX supplement

Gibco DMEM with GlutaMAX supplement provides your cells with a stable source of L-glutamine that does not spontaneously degrade in cell culture, improving the health and viability of your cells by helping reduce the accumulation of toxic ammonia.

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Custom DMEM

If you require a custom DMEM formulation for your cell culture experiments, our media customization services can provide you with the media you need, including custom components, packaging, and QC testing.

Explore services for DMEM customization

cell culture media icon GMP manufacturing

Gibco cell culture products are manufactured in facilities compliant with current good manufacturing practices (GMP) and adhere to a robust quality management system, helping to ensure the consistency, reliability, and high quality you can rely on.

Learn more about GMP manufacturing

leaf icon Sustainable solutions

The 1 L Gibco bottle uses 38% less source material (32% less material for the 500 mL bottle) than comparable media bottles on the market today. This helps reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources, helping shrink your footprint.

Download the Green Fact Sheet
Learn more about sustainable solutions

Resources

Cell Culture & Transfection Learning Center
Access cell culture and transfection educational resources for better experiment planning and execution.

Gibco Cell Culture Basics
Learn the fundamentals of cell culture for achieving consistent results, including laboratory setup, safety, and aseptic techniques.

Media Formulation Tool
Find the right Gibco media formulation for DMEM, DMEM/F-12, MEM, and RPMI-1640 media.

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Support

Cell Culture & Transfection Support Center
Find technical support recommendations for your cell culture and transfection workflows, including tips for experimental setup and in-depth troubleshooting help.

Need technical support? Contact our expert team for technical and application support of Laboratory Products.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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