Force-Controlled Formation of Dynamic Nanopores for Single-Biomolecule Sensing and Single-Cell Secretomics

Nanopore sensing of single nucleotides has emerged as a promising single-molecule technology for DNA sequencing and proteomics. Despite the conceptual simplicity of nanopores, adoption of this technology for practical applications has been limited by a lack of pore size adjustability and an inability to perform long-term recordings in complex solutions. Here we introduce a method for fast and precise on-demand formation of a nanopore with controllable size between 2 and 20 nm through force-controlled adjustment of the nanospace formed between the opening of a microfluidic device (made of silicon nitride) and a soft polymeric substrate. The introduced nanopore system enables stable measurements at arbitrary locations. By accurately positioning the nanopore in the proximity of single neurons and continuously recording single-molecule translations over several hours, we have demonstrated this is a powerful approach for single-cell proteomics and secretomics.