About the Authors

Ryan F. Donnelly

r.donnelly@qub.ac.uk

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Maelíosa T. C. McCrudden

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Ahlam Zaid Alkilani

Affiliations School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom, School of Pharmacy, Zarqa University, Zarqa, Jordan

Eneko Larrañeta

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Emma McAlister

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Aaron J. Courtenay

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Mary-Carmel Kearney

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Thakur Raghu Raj Singh

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Helen O. McCarthy

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Victoria L. Kett

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Ester Caffarel-Salvador

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Sharifa Al-Zahrani

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

A. David Woolfson

Affiliation School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Co. Antrim, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

Ryan Donnelly and David Woolfson are named inventors on a patent application related to hydrogel-forming microneedle arrays (details below). They are working with a number of companies with a view to commercialisation of this technology. They provide advice, through consultancy, to these companies. Importantly, however, this does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. None of the other authors have any competing interests. Donnelly, R.F., Woolfson A.D., McCarron, P.A., Morrow, D.I.J., Morrissey, A. (2007). Microneedles/Delivery Device and Method. British Patent Application No 0718996.2. Filed September 28th 2007. International publication No WO2009040548. Approved for grant in Japan and China. US, Europe, India and Australia pending.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RFD MTCM AZA ADW. Performed the experiments: MTCM AZA EM ECS SAZ EL. Analyzed the data: MTCM AZA EM ECS SAZ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RFD TRRS HOM VLK ADW. Wrote the paper: RFD MTCM AZA EL EM AJC MCK ECS SAZ ADW.