However, individual antibodies immobilized on the sponge-like agarose aren’t always accessible to target proteins (which often exist as large protein complexes) in a sample, and antibody may be lost during the washing steps (centrifugation). By contrast, antibodies bound to the surface of magnetic beads are all accessible to antigen, and the antibody is less likely to be lost during the gentle washing steps (on a magnet). Therefore, even if the antibody-binding capacity is lower compared to agarose, the final antigen yield is often the same or greater with magnetic beads.