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UPM Biomedicals

GrowDex® Hydrogel Range

Next generation solution for reproducible and scalable animal-free 3D cell culture applications providing convenience and consistent results.

 

What is GrowDex?

GrowDex is an animal free, ready to use hydrogel that mimics the extracellular matrix (ECM) and supports cell growth and differentiation with consistent results. 

GrowDex is a proven solution for automation and high throughput screening. GrowDex can be used for 3D cell culture for spheroids and organoids, in personalised medicine, regenerative medicine, organ-on-a-chip models, drug release studies and more. 

 
 

Our Products

GrowDex®

With over 150 different assay protocols available GrowDex is our original hydrogel. Highly biocompatible GrowDex has been used widely for the culture of primary cells through to iPS and ES cells.

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GrowDex®-T

GrowDex-T brings superior imaging quality for phase contrast and brightfield imaging. This hydrogel is completely transparent making imaging and automated analysis easy.

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GrowDex®-A

If you are looking to customise your hydrogel then GrowDex-A is for you. GrowDex-A has been modified by the addition of an avidin group so you can attach any biotinylated molecule you like.

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GrowDase™

GrowDase enzyme breaks down GrowDex hydrogel to form a solution in an easy one step efficient cell recovery process.

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GrowInk™

GrowInk Bioinks for 3D printing, can be mixed directly with cells for bioprinting applications. The matrix can be customised by the addition of molecules, such as growth factors or adhesion proteins, as needed by your specific cells.

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Why go animal free in cell culture?

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Features and benefits of GrowDex hydrogels

 

Animal free*

Clean and well-defined hydrogels consisting of only nanofibrillar cellulose and purified water. No animal DNA interfering with readouts. *Excludes GrowDex-A after addition of biotinylated ligands

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Reproducible lots

Do not add variation to your results. Our GrowDex hydrogels are manufactured to the highest standards with strict quality control criteria, so you can be sure the performance will be the same regardless of the production batch ordered.

Ready to use

No gel preparation steps required. GrowDex hydrogels are provided ready to use, and they can be used and stored at room temperature. Just mix the hydrogel with your media and cells, dispense and incubate.

One-step cell recovery

Cells and organoids can be recovered from GrowDex with a gentle one-step enzymatic process with our GrowDase without affecting the cells.

Temperature stable

Easy and fast handling. Store and work at room temperature, no need to work on ice or at elevated temperatures.

Tunability

Tune the microenvironment to suit your cells. The optimal stiffness is achieved by dilution with cell culture medium, and the culturing matrix can be customized easily by simply adding components such as growth factors or proteins directly to the gel.

Microscope and high throughput compatible

GrowDex hydrogels do not have auto-fluorescence so imaging with any microscope or high content imaging system is simple.The ambient handling of the hydrogels makes them ideal for high throughput assays.

 
 

Which GrowDex® Hydrogel to choose?

 
 

FEATURE

GrowDex®

GrowDex®-T

GrowDex®-A

Cellulose type

Native

Anionic

Anionic

Cellulose fiber charge

Neutral

Negative

Negative

Stock concentration

1.5%

1.0%

1.0%

Working concentration range

0.2% - 1.5%

0.1% - 1.0%

0.1% -1.0%

Visual appearance

Opaque

Transparent

Transparent

Brightfield

**

***

***

Phase contrast

**

***

***

Fluorecence

***

***

***

Ready-to-use

Yes

Yes

Yes, mix with

biotinylated molecule

Shelf life

12 months

12 months

6 months
 
 

Why transfer from 2D to 3D in High throughput screening?

Major part of the cell-based high throughput screening (HTS) assays are done still with traditional two-dimensional (2D) cultures that poorly represent the complex three-dimensional (3D) physiological environment, where living cells naturally grow. The highly artificial HTS monolayer (2D) cultures are thought to significantly impact on the predictive value of compound screens and lead to high failure rate in drug discovery.

Advanced 3D cell-based assays for high throughput screening provide a more physiologically relevant solution. Some of the current 3D models possess major obstacles in scaling up for HTS assays, as they are not reproducible, the costs are high, and there are several technical problems that cause challenges, including: automation of liquid handling, temperature control, optimizing imaging and detection methods, chemical and physical properties of the matrix and downstream processing.