About the Authors

Ying-Ying Wang

Affiliation Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Holly A. Schroeder

Affiliation Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America

Kenetta L. Nunn

Affiliation UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America

Karen Woods

Affiliation Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Deborah J. Anderson

Affiliation Departments of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Microbiology and Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Samuel K. Lai

lai@unc.edu (SKL); cone@jhu.edu (RAC)

Affiliations Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America, UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America

Richard A. Cone

lai@unc.edu (SKL); cone@jhu.edu (RAC)

Affiliation Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Competing Interests

Mucommune LLC seeks to harness antibody-mucin interactions to improve protection or treatment of infections at mucosal surfaces, and has licensed intellectual property from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). SKL is a founder of Mucommune. SKL and YYW own company stock; SKL’s relationship with Mucommune is subject to certain restrictions under University policy. The terms of this arrangement are being managed by UNC-CH in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. There are no approved patents, products in clinical development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RAC SKL YYW DJA. Performed the experiments: YYW HAS KLN KW. Analyzed the data: YYW RAC SKL. Wrote the paper: SKL YYW RAC DJA.