biostudies-literatureWang WNHLBI NIH HHSNational Institutes of HealthNational Science Foundation2863-2871https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9634865biostudies-literatureUnknown9(11)The recent global outbreaks of epidemics and pandemics have shown us that we are severely under-prepared to cope with infectious agents. Exposure to infectious agents present in biofluids (<i>e.g.</i>, blood, saliva, urine <i>etc.</i>) poses a severe risk to clinical laboratory personnel and healthcare workers, resulting in hundreds of millions of hospital-acquired and laboratory-acquired infections annually. Novel technologies that can minimize human exposure through remote and automated handling of infectious biofluids will mitigate such risk. In this work, we present biofluid manipulators, which allow on-demand, remote and lossless manipulation of virtually any liquid droplet. Our manipulators are designed by integrating thermo-responsive soft actuators with superomniphobic surfaces. UtMaterials horizonsOn-demand, remote and lossless manipulation of biofluid droplets.PMC9634865R01 HL135505R21 HL1392081751628R01HL1355051755766R21HL139208Pawlowski BBrown ACNellenbach KKota AKWang WVallabhuneni SVahabi HZhao JSun JScholle FfalseOn-demand, remote and lossless manipulation of biofluid droplets.The recent global outbreaks of epidemics and pandemics have shown us that we are severely under-prepared to cope with infectious agents. Exposure to infectious agents present in biofluids (<i>e.g.</i>, blood, saliva, urine <i>etc.</i>) poses a severe risk to clinical laboratory personnel and healthcare workers, resulting in hundreds of millions of hospital-acquired and laboratory-acquired infections annually. Novel technologies that can minimize human exposure through remote and automated handling of infectious biofluids will mitigate such risk. In this work, we present biofluid manipulators, which allow on-demand, remote and lossless manipulation of virtually any liquid droplet. Our manipulators are designed by integrating thermo-responsive soft actuators with superomniphobic surfaces. Ut2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Oct2025-04-05T11:53:31.317Z2025-04-05T11:53:31.317ZS-EPMC96348653607042510.1039/d2mh00695b