About the Authors

Karim Benabdellah

Contributed equally to this work with: Karim Benabdellah, Francisco Martín

francisco.martin@genyo.es (FM); Karim.benabdel@genyo.es (KB)

Affiliation Human DNA Variability Department, GENYO - Centre for Genomic and Oncological Research (Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government), PTS Granada, Granada, Spain

Alejandra Gutierrez-Guerrero

Affiliation Human DNA Variability Department, GENYO - Centre for Genomic and Oncological Research (Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government), PTS Granada, Granada, Spain

Marién Cobo

Affiliation Human DNA Variability Department, GENYO - Centre for Genomic and Oncological Research (Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government), PTS Granada, Granada, Spain

Pilar Muñoz

Affiliation Human DNA Variability Department, GENYO - Centre for Genomic and Oncological Research (Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government), PTS Granada, Granada, Spain

Francisco Martín

Contributed equally to this work with: Karim Benabdellah, Francisco Martín

francisco.martin@genyo.es (FM); Karim.benabdel@genyo.es (KB)

Affiliation Human DNA Variability Department, GENYO - Centre for Genomic and Oncological Research (Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government), PTS Granada, Granada, Spain

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: The authors have applied for a European patent on the “Insulator to improve gene transfer vectors” European Application number: EP13382080.3; Applicant: Fundación Progreso y Salud; Date of receipt: 13-March-2013. The patent application presented covers the new synthetic SAR elements, SAR1 and SAR2 and SARIK1β. As a result it covers all sequences, such as the IS2 insulator, that contained any of these sequences. All authors are affiliated to GENYO (Centre for Genomic and Oncological Research), a public center co-financed by Pfizer, the University of Granada and the Andalusian Regional Government. All authors are financed by the Andalusian Regional Government and do not have any contract with Pfizer. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Therefore all materials presented in the manuscript will be freely available to the scientific community although not for commercial purposes.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: FM KB. Performed the experiments: KB AGG MC PM. Analyzed the data: FM KB AGG MC PM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FM KB. Wrote the paper: FM KB.