Title: Unravelling biomolecular self-assembly by single molecule mass measurement
Abstract: Biomolecular mechanisms and interactions form the basis of biological function and regulation.
Elucidating the underlying processes traditionally relies on a combination of structural
characterization and bulk studies aimed at revealing the associated energetics and kinetics. Both
approaches, however, come with some intrinsic bias, such as towards the most stable species or the
averaging of individual to ensemble behaviour, and neither is capable of visualizing any underlying
dynamics. I will show how mass photometry, single molecule mass measurement in solution, can be
used to fully characterise biomolecular interactions, ranging from simple 1:1 interactions to the
assembly of 60-mers in the context of viral capsids. I will close by presenting a novel assay that
enables mass-resolved observation of single molecule dynamics in solution with ms-temporal
resolution for up to hours, which we use for the first molecular-level observation of viral capsid
assembly.