About the Authors

Yun-Zi Dong

Contributed equally to this work with: Yun-Zi Dong, Li-Juan Zhang

Affiliation Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center, Beijing, China

Li-Juan Zhang

Contributed equally to this work with: Yun-Zi Dong, Li-Juan Zhang

Affiliation Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center, Beijing, China

Zi-Mei Wu

Affiliation Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center, Beijing, China

Ling Gao

Affiliation Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center, Beijing, China

Yi-Sang Yao

Affiliation Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center, Beijing, China

Ning-Zhi Tan

Affiliation Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center, Beijing, China

Jian-Yong Wu

Affiliations Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Shenzhen TCM Pharmacy and Molecular Pharmacology Kay Laboratory, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Luqun Ni

Affiliation Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States of America

Jia-Shi Zhu

zhujosh@gmail.com

Affiliations Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Shenzhen TCM Pharmacy and Molecular Pharmacology Kay Laboratory, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, NS Center for Anti-Aging Research, Provo, UT, United States of America

Competing Interests

The Pharmanex Cordyceps sinensis research fund was provided as a special supply for Cordyceps sinensis-related research by Nu Skin Enterprises USA. The Pharmanex Beijing Clinical Pharmacology Center was one of the Nu Skin Research Labs and was closed in Dec. 2013. The co-authors [YZD, LJZ, ZMW, LG, YSY, NZT] were staff scientists of Nu Skin Research Labs prior to its closure. Co-author JSZ was an employee of Nu Skin USA and left the company on Oct. 1, 2013 (currently an Adjunct Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ.). Co-authors LJZ and ZMW are currently employed by other institutes, and their jobs are completely unrelated to C. sinensis research. The remaining co-authors [YZD, LG, YSY, NZT] are currently unemployed, and JSZ remains in an adjunct position at the university. The majority of the work related to this paper was performed before the lab closure. The authors continued working on the project (e.g., data analyses, manuscript writing/revising, submitting/resubmitting) without salary support from Nu Skin after leaving the company in Oct. or Dec. 2013. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LJZ JSZ. Performed the experiments: YZD LJZ. Analyzed the data: YZD LG YSY NZT LN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ZMW. Wrote the paper: JSZ JYW. Formulated analytic algorithms: LN.