About the Authors

Geert A. A. Nibourg

Affiliations Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Robert A. F. M. Chamuleau

Affiliation Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Tessa V. van der Hoeven

Affiliations Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Martinus A. W. Maas

Affiliation Department of Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

An F. C. Ruiter

Affiliation Department of Clinical Chemistry, Laboratory of Endocrinology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Wouter H. Lamers

Affiliation Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Ronald P. J. Oude Elferink

Affiliation Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Thomas M. van Gulik

Affiliation Department of Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Ruurdtje Hoekstra

r.hoekstra@amc.uva.nl

Affiliations Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

RC is CSO of Hep-Art Medical Devices, which has the exclusive license of the AMC bioartificial liver. However, he owns no shares of the company. Hep-Art was established in 2000 to commercialize the AMC-BAL. Hep-Art worked on developing a suitable human cell line until it ran out of funding early 2007. Since then it halts its operations. Address: Hep-Art Medical Devices BV. Reimersbeek 27, 1085 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. http://www.hep-art.com. Hep-Art Medical Devices BV also provided part of the funding for this study. GN, RC and RH have submitted a patent describing the culture method. RH was employed by Hep-Art Medical Devices for 6 months. The other authors who have taken part in this study declare that they do not have anything to disclose regarding funding or conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript. There are no products in development or marketed products to declare. 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: GN RC TVH MM RO WL RH. Performed the experiments: GN TVH MM AR RH. Analyzed the data: TVH RH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RC TVG RO RH. Wrote the paper: GN RC TVH MM AR WL RO TVG RH.