UPM Biomedicals develops and supplies innovative and sustainable wood-based biomedical products for a variety of uses. Our high-quality products are derived from renewable wood sources originating from sustainably managed and certified forests. GrowDex® products are nanofibrillar cellulose hydrogels for 3D cell culturing and other biomedical applications. They are highly biocompatible with human cells and tissues – but free from any animal- or human-derived material.

Learn more about our biomedicals business

We currently focus on two application areas; clinical and life science.  On clinical side our natural biocompatible hydrogels, which are free from animal-derived components, are ideally suited to serve as biomaterial in wound care, cell therapy and tissue engineering applications.  

In life science our main product is GrowDex® - a bio-friendly hydrogel extracted from birch. It is a ready to use hydrogel that mimics the extracellular matrix (ECM), supporting cell growth and differentiation with consistent results. The versatility of GrowDex has seen it used in numerous applications ranging from 2D/3D cell culture and organ-on-a-chip models, through drug release studies and 3D printing.

Being a completely xeno-free hydrogel, GrowDex enables you to have a complete control over the culture environment for your cells. Recovering your cells, spheroids or organoids post culture is one step process with our GrowDase™ enzyme. The enzyme digests the GrowDex® leaving your cells in solution for re-plating or downstream processing.

 
 
 

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Latest articles


A wound dressing that does not need changing: A wood gel revolutionises wound care
Story | Aurora Airaskorpi | 06/21/2023 12:05:00 | 7 min

A wound dressing that does not need changing: A wood gel revolutionises wound care

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Human cells are now grown in wood – and in the future, that could save your life
Story | Johanna Puustinen | 04/26/2023 09:52:00 | 9 min

Human cells are now grown in wood – and in the future, that could save your life

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Plant power: 3 ways how nature’s inherent abilities can solve the biggest issues of our time
Story | Rachael Pells | 09/16/2022 04:53:26 | 9 min

Plant power: 3 ways how nature’s inherent abilities can solve the biggest issues of our time

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