About the Authors

Qifang Wu

Affiliation Program in Anemia Signaling Research, Nephrology Division, Program in Membrane Biology, and Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Chia Chi Sun

Affiliation Program in Anemia Signaling Research, Nephrology Division, Program in Membrane Biology, and Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Herbert Y. Lin

Affiliation Program in Anemia Signaling Research, Nephrology Division, Program in Membrane Biology, and Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Jodie L. Babitt

babitt.jodie@mgh.harvard.edu

Affiliation Program in Anemia Signaling Research, Nephrology Division, Program in Membrane Biology, and Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following conflicts: J.L.B., H.Y.L., and C.C.S. have ownership interest in a startup company, Ferrumax Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has licensed technology from the Massachusetts General Hospital, including USPTO patent number 7,968,091 “Methods and composition to regulate iron metabolism” and patent application “Methods and compositions for regulating iron homeostasis by modulation of BMP6”, based on work cited here and described in prior publications. The authors confirm that this does not alter their adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: QW HYL JLB. Performed the experiments: QW CCS. Analyzed the data: QW CCS JLB. Wrote the paper: QW JLB. Edited the mauscript: CCS HYL. Supervised the project: JLB.