Emerging bottom-up fabrication methods have enabled the assembly of synthetic colloids, microrobots, living cells, and organoids to create intricate structures with unique properties that transcend their individual components. Herein, an access point to the latest developments is provided in externally driven assembly of synthetic and biological components. In particular, reversibility is emphasized, which enables the fabrication of multiscale systems that would not be possible under traditional techniques. Magnetic, acoustic, optical, and electric fields are the most promising methods for controlling the reversible assembly of biological and synthetic subunits as they can reprogram their assembly by switching on/off the external field or shaping these fields. Capabilities are featured to dynamically actuate the assembly configuration by modulating the properties of the external stimuli, including frequency and amplitude. The design principles are designed, which enable the assembly of reconfigurable structures. Finally, the high degree of control capabilities offered by externally driven assembly will enable broad access to increasingly robust design principles toward building advanced dynamic intelligent systems is foreseen.

Biophysical separation promises label-free, less-invasive methods to manipulate the diverse properties of live cells, such as density, magnetic susceptibility, and morphological characteristics. However, some cellular changes are so minute that they are undetectable by current methods. We developed a multiparametric cell-separation approach to profile cells with simultaneously changing density and magnetic susceptibility. We demonstrated this approach with the natural biophysical phenomenon of Plasmodium falciparum infection, which modifies its host erythrocyte by simultaneously decreasing density and increasing magnetic susceptibility. Current approaches have used these properties separately to isolate later-stage infected cells, but not in combination. We present biophysical separation of infected erythrocytes by balancing gravitational and magnetic forces to differentiate infected cell stages, including early stages for the first time, using magnetic levitation. We quantified height distributions of erythrocyte populations—27 ring-stage synchronized samples and 35 uninfected controls—and quantified their unique biophysical signatures. This platform can thus enable multidimensional biophysical measurements on unique cell types.

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In many malaria‐endemic regions, current detection tools are inadequate in diagnostic accuracy and accessibility. To meet the need for direct, phenotypic, and automated malaria parasite detection in field settings, a portable platform to process, image, and analyze whole blood to detect Plasmodium falciparum parasites, is developed. The liberated parasites from lysed red blood cells suspended in a magnetic field are accurately detected using this cellphone‐interfaced, battery‐operated imaging platform. A validation study is conducted at Ugandan clinics, processing 45 malaria‐negative and 36 malaria‐positive clinical samples without external infrastructure. Texture and morphology features are extracted from the sample images, and a random forest classifier is trained to assess infection status, achieving 100% sensitivity and 91% specificity against gold‐standard measurements (microscopy and polymerase chain reaction), and limit of detection of 31 parasites per µL. This rapid and user‐friendly platform enables portable parasite detection and can support malaria diagnostics, surveillance, and research in resource‐constrained environments.