A team of engineers from Duke University has developed a versatile microfluidic lab-on-a-chip that uses sound waves to create tunnels in a thin layer of oil to carry droplets across a chip without leaving a trace behind. Engineers used a thin layer of inert, immiscible oil on the new lab-on-a-chip platform to prevent droplets from leaving any trace behind. The new lab-on-a-chip platform comprises dual-mode transducers, which helps to transport droplets along x or y-axis based on two different streaming patterns. The breakthrough opens the door for the small-scale, programmable, rewritable biomedical chip that is completely reusable to enable on-site diagnostics or laboratory investigation.