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Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium F12 (DMEM F12)
Culture your cells with Gibco DMEM F12
Gibco Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium: Nutrient Mixture F12 (DMEM F12) is a widely used basal medium for supporting the growth of many different mammalian cells including MDCK, glial cells, fibroblasts, human endothelial cells, and rat fibroblasts. DMEM F12 is a 1:1 mixture of DMEM and Ham's F12 media. This formulation combines DMEM's high concentrations of glucose, amino acids, and vitamins with the wide variety of components found in Ham's F12 media.
Gibco DMEM F12 is formulated for superior quality and delivers greater reliability, consistency, and improved control in mammalian cell culture.
Try the Gibco MediaSelect Tool
Easily find a media solution suited to your specific application. Use this interactive tool to select classical basal, protein expression, or viral vector media.
Your selections will allow you to choose from a catalog menu of media – or customize your own formulation to fit your experimental setup and budget. Where available, you can compare media formulations side-by-side.
DMEM F12 composition
Along with the glucose, amino acids, and vitamins in DMEM, DMEM F12 contains additional components found in Ham’s F12 media, including zinc, putrescine, hypoxanthine, and thymidine. DMEM F12 may also include other factors such as L-glutamine and phenol red indicator. However, due to its lack of proteins, lipids, and growth factors, DMEM F12 is commonly supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS). In addition, the sodium bicarbonate buffer system used in DMEM F12 requires a 5–10% CO2 environment for maintenance of physiological pH.
Thermo Fisher Scientific offers a variety of DMEM F12 modifications for a range of cell culture applications—view an example of a detailed DMEM/F12 formulation here. Learn about additional DMEM/F12 formulation options in the Cell Culture Media Formulation Tool.
DMEM F12 vs DMEM
DMEM alone is rich in nutrients such as amino acids and vitamins, while Ham’s F12 media contains a higher diversity of components. Therefore, DMEM F12 is a more complex media than DMEM, including many additional factors (e.g., zinc, thymidine) that are generally not found in more standard basal media formulations.
Choose the right DMEM F12
There are several factors to consider when selecting the right Gibco DMEM F12 composition for your cell culture experiments, including format, supplementation, and additives. Our interactive media formulation tool provides side-by-side comparisons of DMEM F12 formulations, allowing for easy selection of the DMEM F12 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
Innovative DMEM F12 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, cold storage constraints, and clinical cell culture.
Advanced DMEM F12
Gibco Advanced DMEM F12 includes ingredients that allow you to reduce FBS supplementation by 50–90%. This both helps reduce your costs and increase consistency in your experiments with fewer lot-to-lot serum changes.
BenchStable DMEM F12
Gibco BenchStable DMEM F12 is formulated for storage at room temperature, helping save valuable cold storage space while maintaining the ability to support cell proliferation and densities at levels comparable to standard DMEM F12.
DMEM F12 with GlutaMAX supplement
Gibco DMEM F12 with GlutaMAX supplement allows you to provide your cells with a stable source of L-glutamine that does not spontaneously degrade, helping improve cell health and viability by reducing toxic ammonia buildup.
CTS Knockout DMEM F12
Taking your work to the clinic? Gibco Cell Therapy Systems (CTS) Knockout DMEM F12 is a cGMP manufactured formula designed for culturing human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.
Customize your DMEM F12
If you require a custom DMEM F12 formulation, use our media customization services to select the DMEM F12 composition that is right for you, including custom media components, packaging, and QC testing.
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.
Sustainable solutions
We are committed to delivering products that serve the research needs of our customers, while striving to develop them in a way that minimizes our use of natural resources and our impact on the environment.
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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