About the Authors

M. Jeff Bergen

Current address: Department of Microbiology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Affiliations Graduate Program in Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Chien-Hsiung Pan

Current address: Vaccine Research and Development Center, Taiwan National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, Taiwan

Affiliation W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Catherine E. Greer

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Harold S. Legg

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

John M. Polo

Current address: XOMA (US) LLC, Berkeley, California, United States of America

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Diane E. Griffin

dgriffin@jhsph.edu

Affiliations Graduate Program in Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Competing Interests

Diane Griffin is a member of a Novartis Vaccines Scientific Advisory Board and Drs. Greer, Legg and Polo were employees of Novartis (Chiron). Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics holds patents on, and is developing, the VEE/SIN vaccine platform. These affiliations do not alter adherence to PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MJB DEG. Performed the experiments: MJB CHP. Analyzed the data: MJB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CEG HSL JMP. Wrote the paper: MJB DEG. Participated in preparation of the manuscript: CEG, HSL, JMP.