About the Authors

Laijun Lai

laijun.lai@uconn.edu

Affiliations Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America, University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

Mingfeng Zhang

Affiliation Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

Yinhong Song

Affiliation Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

Debra Rood

Affiliation Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: L. Lai holds US patent No. 6,749,847 (“Hybrid Cytokine of IL-7 and β-chain of Hepatocyte Growth Factor”) and US patent No. 7,578,998 (“Chimeric Cytokine of IL-7 and beta-chain of HGF and Methods of Use”). 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: LL. Performed the experiments: LL MZ YS DR. Analyzed the data: LL MZ YS. Wrote the manuscript: LL.