About the Authors

Christine Ambrose

Roles Investigation, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Lihe Su

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Lan Wu

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Fay J. Dufort

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Thomas Sanford

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Alyssa Birt

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Benjamin J. Hackel

Roles Investigation, Supervision

Affiliation University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America

Andreas Hombach

Roles Investigation

Affiliation University of Cologne, Köln, Germany

Hinrich Abken

Roles Investigation, Supervision

Current address: Regensburg University, Regensburg, Germany

Affiliation University of Cologne, Köln, Germany

Roy R. Lobb

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Paul D. Rennert

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

paul.rennert@aletabio.com

Affiliation Aleta Biotherapeutics, Natick, MA, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal’s policy, and the authors of the study have the following competing interests to declare: Aleta Biotherapeutics is wholly funded by Advent Life Science Partners, a venture capital firm. Advent Life Sciences provided support in the form of salaries for authors [CA, LS, LW, FJD, AB, PDR], and paid consulting fees [RRL]. Aleta Biotherapeutics funded BJH’s research at the University of Minnesota for a period of time, resulting in a shared patent filing. The agreement with Univ Minnesota was for a one-time payment from Aleta to secure all of the patent rights (assigned by Dr Hackel to UMN). The patent is "CD19 VARIANTS" US Appln. No. 62/599,211; Filed: December 15, 2017. The research sponsorship has since ended and that financial relationship in no manner has influenced the work contained in this manuscript. Aleta Biotherapeutics paid consultancy fees to HA in the past. The consultancy has since ended and that financial relationship in no manner has influenced the work contained in this manuscript. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no other products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare.