About the Authors

Andrew E. Ekpenyong

Affiliation Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Graeme Whyte

Affiliation Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Kevin Chalut

Affiliation Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Stefano Pagliara

Affiliation Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Franziska Lautenschläger

Affiliation Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Christine Fiddler

Affiliation Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's and Papworth Hospitals, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Stephan Paschke

Affiliation Department of Surgery, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

Ulrich F. Keyser

Affiliation Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Edwin R. Chilvers

Affiliation Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's and Papworth Hospitals, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Jochen Guck

jochen.guck@biotec.tu-dresden.de

Affiliations Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Biotechnology Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Competing Interests

Jochen Guck holds the following patents on the optical stretcher technology as pertinent to this publication: “Optical Stretcher” U.S. (#6,067,859), EU (#1,059,871), Canada (#2,322,212), Japan (#4,456,270), Hong Kong (#1,032,726). At present, the patents are not licensed to any commercial entity and no financial gains through royalties, consultancy, employment or otherwise are derived from them. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AEE FL UFK ERC JG. Performed the experiments: AEE GW KC SP FL CF. Analyzed the data: AEE GW KC SP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AEE GW KC SP CF UFK ERC JG. Wrote the paper: AEE GW JG.