About the Authors

Oscar Ramirez

Current address: Section of Hematology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America

Affiliations Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States of America, Border Biomedical Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States of America

Laura B. Motta-Mena

Current address: Dept. of Biophysics, Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States of America

Affiliation Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States of America

Amanda Cordova

Affiliation Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States of America

Kristine M. Garza

kgarza@utep.edu

Affiliations Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States of America, Border Biomedical Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: OR KMG. Performed the experiments: OR LBMM AC. Analyzed the data: OR LBMM AC KMG. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KMG. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: OR KMG.