Monocytes are a critical component of the cellular innate immune system, and can be subdivided into classical, intermediate and non-classical subsets on the basis of surface CD14 and CD16 expression. classical monocytes play the canonical role of phagocytosis, and account for the majority of circulating cells. Intermediate and non-classical cells are known to exhibit varying levels of phagocytosis and cytokine secretion, and are differentially expanded in certain pathological states. Characterisation of cell surface proteins expressed by each subset is informative not only to improve understanding of phenotype, but may also provide biological insights into function. Here we use highly multiplexed Tandem-Mass-Tag (TMT)-based mass spectrometry with selective cell surface biotinylation to characterise the classical monocyte surface proteome, then interrogate the phenotypic differences between each monocyte subset to identify novel protein markers. Monocytes play critical roles in the response to infection and inflammation and antigen presentation. Key effector functions are mediated by differentiated cells, including macrophages and myeloid dendritic cells. Monocytes can be divided into subsets based on the presence of the cell surface lipopolysaccharide (LPS) co-receptor CD14, and Fc-Gamma Receptor III (CD16). CD14++ CD16− classical monocytes account for ~85% of circulating monocytes, intermediate cells (CD14++ CD16+) for ~5% and non-classical cells (CD14+ CD16++) for ~10% of circulating monocytes 1,2. It has become increasingly well established that each subset plays divergent roles in different diseases, as well as differing in the ability to secrete cytokines and respond to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Classical monocytes are phagocytic and readily secrete inflammatory cytokines. Conversely, the CD16 positive non-classical cells are poorly phagocytic and are suggested to secrete TNFα in response to some stimuli, but less of other pro-inflammatory molecules 2-4. Intermediate monocytes are increased in diseases such as severe asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and sarcoidosis, and there is some evidence for expansion of classical monocytes in atherosclerosis 5-8. It is still unclear whether intermediate monocytes represent a truly distinct monocyte subset, or merely a transitional stage between classical and non-classical cells 9. Cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems can be categorised on the basis of microscopic appearance and expression of plasma membrane (PM) proteins, enabling separation by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). As such, systematic evaluation of the entire cell surface proteome expressed by a given immune cell population is a powerful tool to characterise cellular function and distinguish cell types. Previous studies of monocytes subsets have examined transcriptional differences and offer varying depths of information about subset markers, suitability of individual proteins for discriminating subsets by cell surface flow cytometry and the importance of each protein...