β-Glycerophosphate is a classical serine-threonine phosphatase inhibitor used in kinase reaction buffers. BGP is often used in combination with other phosphatase/protease inhibitors for broad spectrum inhibition. It functions as an organic phosphate donor and has been used in culture media for mesenchymal stem cell differentiation to osteoblast-type cells. BGP is also used to buffer M17 media for Lactococcus culture in recombinant protein expression.