Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) is a commonly used cell culture medium. MEM can be used to culture a variety of suspended and adherent mammalian cells, including HeLa, BHK-21, 293, HEP-2, HT-1080, MCF-7, fibroblasts, and primary rat astrocytes wait. Gibco™ MEM Modified Medium is available in a variety of components for a wide range of cell culture applications. Use Medium Selection Tool Find the right recipe.
The complete formulation is available here.

Gibco™ MEM was developed by Harry Eagle based on his earlier Basic Eagle Medium (BME) formulation. Many other modifications of MEM have since been made, including Glasgow's MEM, MEM alpha, DMEM, and Temin's modified medium. This MEM formulation contains Hanks' salts for use in CO₂-free culture environments.

Dual cGMP manufacturing
Gibco™ MEM is manufactured in a cGMP compliant facility in Grand Island, New York. The factory is an FDA-registered medical device manufacturer and is certified to the ISO 13485 standard. To ensure a stable supply chain, we also offer the same Gibco™ MEM product (21575-022) manufactured in our Scottish factory. The latter is also a medical device manufacturer registered with the FDA and complies with the ISO 13485 standard.

MEM does not contain proteins, lipids or growth factors. Therefore, MEM requires additives, usually 10% Fetal bovine serum (FBS). This MEM formulation does not require a CO₂ environment to maintain physiological pH.