The invention relates to a support for culturing cells, in particular to microcarriers coated with gelatine or gelatine-like proteins. Such microcarriers serve as support for culturing anchorage dependent cells. In particular the invention relates to a process for the preparation of a cell culture support comprising the step of coating a microcarrier bead with gelatine or gelatine-like protein, said gelatine or gelatine-like protein having a molecular weight of about 40 kDa to about 200 kDa.