About the Authors

Lin Zhang

Affiliation Department of Human Anatomy & Cell Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Wu Yu

Affiliation Department of Human Anatomy & Cell Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Ingo Schroedter

Affiliation Diagnostic Services of Manitoba Inc. (DSM Inc.) Health Sciences Site, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Jiming Kong

Affiliation Department of Human Anatomy & Cell Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Maria Vrontakis

vrontak@cc.umanitoba.ca

Affiliation Department of Human Anatomy & Cell Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Competing Interests

Maria Vrontakis has served a guest editor for PLoS ONE journal for PONE-D-11-00690R1. 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: MV . Performed the experiments: LZ WY IS. Analyzed the data: LZ MV JK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MV JK IS. Wrote the paper: LZ MV.