Practice question

In Surface Plasmon Resonance terminology, ligand refers to the molecule permanently attached to the sensor chip dextran matrix, while analyte is the soluble partner that flows in microfluidic channels. Immobilization is typically achieved via amine, thiol, or streptavidin coupling, ensuring stable baseline and reproducible orientation. Ligand density influences response magnitude and kinetic accessibility. Analyte binding to ligand produces resonance unit increase. Distinguishing ligand and analyte is crucial for kinetic modeling, since immobilization restricts diffusion and may affect binding activity. Antibody coating or bead systems are not used in conventional SPR sensor design.