About the Authors

Hisashi Akiyama

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Nora-Guadalupe Pina Ramirez

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Manasa V. Gudheti

Affiliation Bruker Nano Surfaces, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America

Suryaram Gummuluru

rgummulu@bu.edu

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Competing Interests

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: MVG is an employee at Bruker Nano Surfaces. This does not alter our adherence to all PLOS policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HA SG. Performed the experiments: HA NGPR MVG. Analyzed the data: HA MVG. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HA NGPR MVG. Wrote the paper: HA SG.