About the Authors

Stefan W. Wessel

Affiliation University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Groningen, The Netherlands

Henny C. van der Mei

h.c.van.der.mei@umcg.nl

Affiliation University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Groningen, The Netherlands

David Morando

Affiliation William Wrigley, Jr. Company, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Anje M. Slomp

Affiliation University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Groningen, The Netherlands

Betsy van de Belt-Gritter

Affiliation University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Groningen, The Netherlands

Amarnath Maitra

Affiliation William Wrigley, Jr. Company, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Henk J. Busscher

Affiliation University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Groningen, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

HJB is also director-owner of SASA BV. AM and DM are employees of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Opinions and assertions contained herein are those of the authors and are not meant to be construed as the representing views of the organizations which the authors are affiliated with. This article relates to the following patent and patent application respectively: WO2014159901 (A2) - Methods of detecting and quantifying nucleic acids within malleable polymers - Amarnath Maitra, David Morando Patent application - Method of detecting and quantifying bacteria contained on or within chewing gum. Herewith the authors confirm that this does not alter their adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SWW HCM DM AM HJB. Performed the experiments: SWW AMS BBG. Analyzed the data: SWW HCM DM AMS BBG AM HJB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DM AM. Wrote the paper: SWW HCM DM AM HJB.