About the Authors

Irina V. Pinchuk

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Katherine T. Morris

Affiliation Department of Surgery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Robert A. Nofchissey

Affiliation Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Rachel B. Earley

Affiliation Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Jeng-Yih Wu

Affiliation Departement of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Thomas Y. Ma

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Ellen J. Beswick

ebeswick@salud.unm.edu

Affiliation Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interest exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: IP KM TM EB. Performed the experiments: IP RN RE EB. Analyzed the data: IP KM RN RE TM EB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: J-YW. Wrote the paper: IP KM TM J-YW EB.