About the Authors

Megha Kaushal

Affiliations Molecular Medicine Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Colleen Byrnes

Affiliation Molecular Medicine Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Zarir Khademian

Affiliation Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Natalie Duncan

Affiliation Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Naomi L. C. Luban

Affiliations Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Jeffery L. Miller

Affiliation Molecular Medicine Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Ross M. Fasano

Current address: Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

‡ These authors are joint senior authors on this work.

Affiliations Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Emily Riehm Meier

emeier@ihtc.org

Current address: Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

‡ These authors are joint senior authors on this work.

Affiliations Molecular Medicine Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C., United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Competing Interests

RMF has served as an advisory board member for Apopharma (Ferriprox), Novartis (Exjade), and Immucor (HEA PreciseType), and has engaged in educational speaking (non-branded) activities sponsored by Novartis and Terumo BCT on Iron overload in Sickle Cell Disease. There are no patents, 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: MK JLM ERM. Performed the experiments: MK CB. Analyzed the data: MK ND JLM ZK NLCL RMF ERM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JLM. Wrote the paper: MK CB ND NLCL JLM RMF ERM.