About the Authors

Hadrien Peyret

Affiliation Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom

Annick Gehin

Affiliation School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Eva C. Thuenemann

Affiliation Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom

Donatienne Blond

Affiliation School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Aadil El Turabi

Affiliations School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, iQur Ltd, London, United Kingdom

Lucy Beales

Affiliations School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, iQur Ltd, London, United Kingdom

Dean Clarke

Affiliation School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Robert J. C. Gilbert

Affiliation UK Division of Structural Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Elizabeth E. Fry

Affiliation UK Division of Structural Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

David I. Stuart

Affiliation UK Division of Structural Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Kris Holmes

Affiliation School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Nicola J. Stonehouse

Affiliation School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Mike Whelan

Affiliation iQur Ltd, London, United Kingdom

William Rosenberg

Affiliation iQur Ltd, London, United Kingdom

George P. Lomonossoff

Affiliation Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom

David J. Rowlands

D.j.rowlands@leeds.ac.uk

Affiliation School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

Aadil El Turabi, Lucy Beales, and Mike Whelan are employed by iQur Ltd., which was founded by William Rosenberg who is Chief Scientific and Executive Director. The company is using tandem core technology in the development of vaccines. In addition, A.G., D.J.R., R.J.C.G., and D.I.S. are named inventors on patent EPO EP1268530/A1, "Hepatitis B core antigen fusion proteins", which relates to the tandem core system; and D.J.R., G.P.L., and H.P. are named inventors on patent PCT/GB2014/051739, "Single domain antibody display", which relates to the display of single-domain nanobodies on the surface of tandem core VLPs. There are no further patents, products in development, or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HP AG ECT DB AET LB DC RJCG EEF DIS KH NJS MW WR GPL DJR. Performed the experiments: HP AG ECT DB AET LB DC RJCG EEF KH NJS. Analyzed the data: HP AG ECT DB AET LB DC RJCG EEF DIS KH NJS MW WR GPL DJR. Wrote the paper: HP AG ECT LB RJCG DIS KH NJS MW GPL DJR.