GelRed® is an ultra sensitive, extremely stable and environmentally safe fluorescent nucleic acid dye designed to replace the highly toxic ethidium bromide (EtBr) for staining dsDNA, ssDNA or RNA in agarose gels or polyacrylamide gels.

• Safer than EtBr: non-mutagenic and non-hazardous for disposal
• Much more sensitive than EtBr and SYBR® Safe
• Stable at room temperature and microwavable
• Simple precast or post-electrophoresis gel staining, no destaining
• Replaces EtBr with no change to equipment or optical settings
• Compatible with downstream gel purification, restriction digest, sequencing, and cloning

GelRed®: A Superior Alternative to EtBr

GelRed® is much more sensitive than EtBr, and can be used to stain dsDNA, ssDNA or RNA in agarose gels via either precast or post gel staining without destaining. GelRed® can also be used to stain polyacrylamide gels via post gel staining. GelRed® is also compatible with downstream DNA manipulations such as restriction digest, sequencing, and cloning. GelRed® and EtBr have virtually the same spectra, so you can directly replace EtBr with GelRed® without changing your existing imaging system. For detailed protocols for use, please download the GelRed® Product Information Sheet. Also see our GelRed® and GelGreen® Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Non-Mutagenic and Safer for the Environment

A series of safety tests have confirmed that GelRed® is noncytotoxic, nonmutagenic and nonhazardous at concentrations well above the working concentrations used in gel staining. As a result, working strength GelRed® can be safely disposed of down the drain or in regular trash, providing convenience and reducing cost in waste disposal. For detailed test results, you may download the GelRed®/GelGreen® Safety Report.

How Safe is Your Gel Stain?

Many so-called “safe” DNA dyes like SYBR® Safe, Midori Green, GreenSafe, SafeView™, and RedSafe™ not only have low sensitivity, but also readily penetrate living cells to bind DNA, and some are cytotoxic. Unlike these dyes, GelRed® is cell membrane-impermeant, so it cannot enter living cells to interact with their DNA. See our Gel Stains Comparison Flyer or  Gel Stains Comparison White Paper for details.

Choose the Right Stain for Your Application

For agarose gels, we recommend using Original GelRed® Nucleic Acid Gel Stain or GelGreen® Nucleic Acid Gel Stain. GelRed® 3X in water is ready-to-use for post-electrophoresis gel staining, and is supplied in a 4L Cubitainer®. Higher concentrations of Original GelRed® are available as 10,000X in water or DMSO. GelRed® in water is a newer, safer formulation and our recommended format. We continue to offer GelRed® in DMSO for established users who do not wish to alter their protocols. We also offer GelRed® Agarose and GelRed® Prestain Plus 6X Loading Dye.