ProteOn sensor chips are prepared with a modified alginate polymer bound to a gold surface. The alginate layer is attached in different structures to provide surfaces with different binding capacities. The hydrophilic nature of the alginate layer creates a solution-like environment that prevents denaturation of the immobilized ligand and nonspecific adsorption of the analyte. The carboxyl groups on the alginate molecule are designed for easy activation with the ProteOn amine coupling kit using proprietary technology. Because of the increased activation yield on the ProteOn sensor chips the alginate layer is thinner than the dextran layer of other sensor chip types. In fact the GLC sensor chip layer thickness is close to 10 nm.
ProteOn sensor chips provide well-characterized surface chemistries optimized to control ligand immobilization densities and maintain high ligand activities suitable for detailed kinetic analysis as well as qualitative screening applications. Each ProteOn sensor chip is enclosed in a bar-coded cartridge for data tracking and archiving (1).