About the Authors

Malin Persson

Affiliation School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

Maria Gullberg

Current address: National Veterinary Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Lindholm, Kalvehave, Denmark

Affiliation School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

Conny Tolf

Affiliation School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

A. Michael Lindberg

Affiliation School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

Alf Månsson

alf.mansson@lnu.se (AM); a.kocer@rug.nl (AK)

Affiliation School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

Armagan Kocer

alf.mansson@lnu.se (AM); a.kocer@rug.nl (AK)

Affiliation Biochemistry Department, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following conflicts: Alf Månsson is a co-founder, co-owner and CEO of the start-up company ActoSense Biotech AB (Kalmar, Sweden) aiming to develop diagnostic devices based on the aggregation of cytoskeletal elements, particularly actin filaments, in solution. Moreover, A Månsson holds two Swedish patents in this field and application for one of these patents (about aggregation of actin filaments by analyte molecules) has also been filed in the US and Europe. A. Swedish patent 1: Månsson A, Tågerud S, Sundberg M, Rosengren JP, Montelius L, Omling P, Bunk R, Nicholls IA and Balaz M. (2007) Arrangemang för en miniatyriserad separation av kemiska substanser (analyter) och/eller en testning av kemiska substansers effekt på molekylmotorers funktioner. Swedish Patent SE 528 700 B. Swedish patent 2: Månsson, A and Tågerud, S. (2008). Känslig detektion av gifter, patogener och sjukdomsmarkörer genom aggregation av cytoskeletala filament. Swedish Patent SE 531 135. B1. European patent application based on Sw. patent 2: Detection conjugate. Application number: EP20070852077 B2. US patent application based on Sw. patent 2: Detection conjugate. Application number: 12/517,148; Publication number: US 2010/0248212 A1 This does not alter the authors′ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MP ML AM AK. Performed the experiments: MP MG CT. Analyzed the data: MP AM. Wrote the paper: MP MG CT ML AM AK.