About the Authors

Xue Cai

Affiliation Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America

Zack Nash

Affiliation Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America

Shannon M. Conley

Affiliation Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America

Steven J. Fliesler

Current address: Research Service, Veterans Administration Western New York Healthcare System, and Departments of Ophthalmology (Ross Eye Institute) and Biochemistry, SUNY-University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States of America

Affiliation Departments of Ophthalmology and Pharmacological & Physiological Science, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America

Mark J. Cooper

Affiliation Copernicus Therapeutics, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Muna I. Naash

muna-naash@ouhsc.edu

Affiliation Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America

Competing Interests

Mark J. Cooper is an employee of Copernicus Therapuetics and owns stock in the company.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: XC MIN. Performed the experiments: XC SMC. Analyzed the data: XC SMC SJF MJC MIN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: XC ZN SMC SJF MJC. Wrote the paper: XC SMC SJF MJC MIN.