Contactless acoustofluidic sample agitator and uses thereof

An acoustofluidic contactless sample agitator comprising:

• a piezoelectric substrate capable of propagating a surface acoustic wave;
• a chamber configured to contain a volume of a liquid, the chamber comprising one or more walls forming the sides of the chamber and a bottom comprising an opening;
• at least two pairs of orthogonal interdigitated transducers (IDTs) deposited on a surface of the piezoelectric substrate;
• and
• wherein the piezoelectric substrate is coupled to the chamber such that the two pairs of orthogonal IDTs are arranged about the periphery of the opening on the bottom of the chamber such that each IDT in each IDT pair is opposite each other on different sides of the opening, that the two IDT pairs are substantially perpendicular to each other about the periphery of the opening, and that the opening is substantially centered between the two IDT pairs, and
• wherein, together, the two pairs of IDTs are configured to produce tunable orthogonal surface acoustic waves in the piezoelectric substrate effective to produce acoustic streaming and/or acoustic radiation force within a liquid present in the chamber sufficient to mix the liquid present inside the chamber and/or agitate one or more particles, cells, and/or complexes thereof present in the liquid without trapping the one or more particles, cells, and/or complexes thereof within the liquid.