About the Authors

Kathryn Michels

Affiliation Departments of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Elizabeta Nemeth

Affiliation Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Tomas Ganz

Affiliations Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, Department of Pathology, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Borna Mehrad

mehrad@virginia.edu

Affiliations Departments of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America, The Carter Center for Immunology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Competing Interests

Michels and Mehrad have declared that no competing interests exist. We have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: Ganz and Nemeth are shareholders and consultants for Merganser Biotech, a company engaged in the development of minihepcidins that could be used to treat infections, and founders of Intrinsic Lifesciences, a company developing hepcidin-based diagnostics. This does not alter our adherence to all PLOS policies.