Eagle’s Minimal Essential Medium (EMEM)

Description

What is EMEM?

Eagle’s Minimum Essential Medium, commonly called EMEM or MEM, is a foundational mammalian cell culture medium developed from Harry Eagle’s earlier Basal Medium Eagle. It provides essential amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, and glucose to support cell maintenance and proliferation.

Standard EMEM is commonly used for adherent mammalian cell lines, but the correct medium and supplements should always be selected according to the requirements of the specific cell line.

Standard formulation

PurMa’s standard EMEM formulation contains:

• 1.0 g/L glucose
• 2 mM L-glutamine
• 1 mM sodium pyruvate
• 1.5 g/L sodium bicarbonate
• Essential and non-essential amino acids
• Vitamins and inorganic salts

A sodium bicarbonate concentration of 1.5 g/L is commonly used with a humidified 5% CO₂ atmosphere. Researchers should confirm the required bicarbonate level, supplements, and incubation conditions for their individual cell line.

Available EMEM options

PurMa manufactures EMEM in standard and customized formulations, including options without L-glutamine, phenol red, sodium bicarbonate, sodium pyruvate, or glucose. High-glucose, high-bicarbonate, and HEPES-buffered formulations are also available.

Choose the formulation, format, and package size above, or contact PurMa for assistance matching EMEM to your protocol.

Applications

EMEM is commonly used as a basal medium for adherent mammalian cells in research areas such as virology, cancer biology, toxicology, and bioproduction. Because medium requirements vary among cell lines, use the formulation recommended by the cell-line supplier or a validated laboratory protocol.

For adapted suspension cultures, use a formulation specifically validated for suspension growth rather than assuming standard EMEM is interchangeable.

Formulation

for complete formulation click here:  EMEM Formulation 

References

1. Effects of assay medium composition on macrophage-mediated tumor cell binding and lysis. Hasday et al. J Immunol Methods. 1988 Nov 10;114(1-2):243-52. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(88)90180-9. PMID: 3141516.
2. Comparative activity in different media of ketoconazole, miconazole and amphotericin B against Candida lusitaniae and sucrose-negative Candida tropicalis. Mignini et al. Chemioterapia. 1988 Feb;7(1):38-41. PMID: 3378274.
3. Dextran T-500 improves survival and spreading of chick embryo cells in serum-free medium. Pietrzkowski et al. Folia Histochem Cytobiol. 1988;26(3):123-31. PMID: 2461881.

Learn more: What Is EMEM?