About the Authors

Adam Master

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Apostolos Kontzias

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Liqun Huang

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft

Affiliations Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America, Medicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Setauket, New York, United States of America

Wei Huang

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Ophthalmology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Anna Tsioulias

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Samaneh Zarabi

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Michael Wolek

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Renaissance Medical School, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Brian M. Wollocko

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Renaissance Medical School, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Robert Honkanen

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Ophthalmology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Basil Rigas

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

basil.rigas@stonybrookmedicine.edu

Affiliation Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests except for BR who has an equity position in Medicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Apis Therapeutics, LLC; and LH, who has served as an employee of Medicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and is currently an employee with an equity position in Apis Therapeutics, LLC. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.