Best practice mass photometry: A guide to optimal single molecule mass measurement

Abstract Mass photometry (MP) has emerged as a powerful approach to study biomolecular structure, dynamics and interactions. The capabilities of the method ultimately hinge on the ability to accurately measure the tiny optical contrast generated by individual molecules landing at a glass-water interface, which enables mass-resolved quantification of biomolecular mixtures. Ideally, this capability is only limited by shot noise inherent to photon detection, but in practice depends on additional parameters and details of the assay. Here, we focus on the key parameters affecting MP performance, and present simple steps that can be taken to achieve optimal MP performance in terms of mass resolution, quantitative detection limit and analyte concentration range without compromising the ease and simplicity of the technique.