About the Authors

Nicole Y. K. Li

Affiliation Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Katherine Verdolini

kittie@csd.pitt.edu

Affiliations Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, University of Pittsburgh Voice Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Gilles Clermont

Affiliations Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Qi Mi

Affiliations Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Elaine N. Rubinstein

Affiliation Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Patricia A. Hebda

Affiliations Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Otolaryngology Wound Healing Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Yoram Vodovotz

Affiliations Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Competing Interests

Ms. Li, Dr. Verdolini, Dr. Clermont, Dr. Mi, Dr. Hebda and Dr. Vodovotz are the co-inventors of this agent-based model of vocal fold inflammation, which is covered under a pending patent application entitled “Modeling Wound Healing” (Serial Nos. 60/850,690 and 60/850,896; PCT/US2007/080893).

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: NYKL KV. Performed the experiments: NYKL KV. Analyzed the data: NYKL KV GC PAH YV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: NYKL KV GC QM PAH YV. Wrote the paper: NYKL KV GC QM PAH YV. Statistical consultation: ENR. Agent-based model construction: NYL GC QM YV.