Used as a pH indicator in laboratory applications, particularly in electrophoresis gels to monitor the progress of migration. It changes color from yellow to blue over a pH range of approximately 3.0 to 4.6, making it useful for visual tracking during agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Also serves as a tracking dye in molecular biology to estimate the movement of nucleic acids or proteins. Commonly added to sample loading buffers to ensure even loading and to visualize sample entry into the gel matrix.