What TEER Can Tell You About Cell Culture Health
What TEER Can Tell You About Cell Culture Health—and Why It Matters
In barrier model research, the integrity of your cell monolayers isn’t just important—it’s everything. Whether you're studying epithelial transport, drug permeability, or disease modeling, your ability to trust your data hinges on the health of your cultures. That’s why so many researchers rely on Transendothelial/Transepithelial Electrical Resistance (TEER) as a simple, non-invasive, real-time quantitative evaluation of the integrity of your cellular barrier.
TEER offers a direct, quantitative, functional measure of tight junction strength in epithelial and endothelial cell layers. TEER values rise as cells form tight junctions and reach confluence, signaling the formation of a healthy and differentiated cellular layer. A drop in TEER, on the other hand, may indicate cytotoxicity, inflammation, or compromised junctional integrity. This makes TEER a powerful tool across a wide range of life science disciplines, from modeling the blood-brain barrier to screening drug candidates in intestinal or pulmonary tissues.
Consistency Matters, Now More Than Ever
But not all TEER systems that exist today work on the same technology or use the same measurement electronics or accessories, like electrodes or sensors. WPI developed EVOM™-based TEER measurement, considered as the gold standard for TEER. Over the years, many labs have come to rely on the TEER values produced by WPI-manufactured instruments like the EVOM2, EVOM3, EVOM™ Manual, Millicell’s ERS-2, REMS (automated TEER), and EVOM™ Auto. All these instruments work on the same EVOM™-based technology and are trusted in the field, as evidenced by the volume of scientific literature citations. However, researchers upgrading to newer systems such as the Millicell ERS-3 should be aware: although the name is familiar, the underlying technology is not the same.
The ERS-3 uses a different electrode design, meaning the TEER values it generates may not align with your historical data or the industry-standard TEER values you've come to trust. That makes it difficult to compare new results with legacy data or published studies using older, widely adopted standards.
In contrast, WPI’s EVOM™ family of TEER meters, including both the newest EVOM™ Manual and the EVOM™ Auto, preserves the same silver-silver chloride electrode and EVOM™ technology that has been the gold standard in TEER research for decades. This ensures consistent, reproducible results that remain compatible with historical data and established experimental protocols.
Choose a Proven, Trusted TEER Solution
WPI is the pioneer in TEER technology and continues to be the leader the field with new, innovative instrumentation based on many decades of expertise in this area. WPI offers a complete suite of TEER measurement tools designed to meet your specific research needs:
- The EVOM™ Manual is ideal for focused, single-sample readings where direct control is critical.
- The EVOM™ Auto offers automated, high-throughput TEER measurements, perfect for time-course studies and 96- or 24-well multiwell formats.
When you choose EVOM™, you're not just getting a TEER meter. You’re choosing a proven, validated measurement technique that ensures consistency with past results and aligns with numerous published standards across barrier model literature.
Why Choose EVOM™ Technology?
- Continuity: Built on decades of proven electrode and measurement technology.
- Compatibility: Aligned with published TEER values and prior-generation WPI systems.
- Versatility: Manual or automated options for every type of lab setup.
- Reliability: Trusted by researchers worldwide for its precision of barrier model analysis.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Barrier Research?
If you're serious about data continuity, reproducibility, and confidence in your barrier model studies, choose the system that’s been setting the TEER standard for decades. Choose WPI’s EVOM™.
