A microfluidic arrangement for manipulating fluids, the microfluidic arrangement comprising a substrate 108, a first fluid 102 and a second fluid 112 wherein the second fluid is immiscible with the first fluid, the first fluid is arranged to be covered at least partially by the second fluid and the first fluid is arranged in a desired shape on an unpatterned surface of the substrate and is retained in said shape by a fluid interface between the first and second fluids. Ideally, the first fluid is a droplet. The substrate surface may be flat, smooth and hydrophilic, the first fluid may be a polar (hydrophilic) fluid and the second fluid may be a non-polar (hydrophobic) fluid. The second fluid may be oil, a fluorocarbon or air. Reactants and reagents which are miscible with the first fluid may be added to or removed from a droplet without altering the footprint of the droplet. The array of droplets act as pseudo wells of a microwell plate. Droplets may be linked by fluid conduits or bridges.
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