About the Authors

Christina A. Markunas

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Karen Soldano

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Kaitlyn Dunlap

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Heidi Cope

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Edgar Asiimwe

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Jeffrey Stajich

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

David Enterline

Affiliation Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Gerald Grant

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Herbert Fuchs

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Simon G. Gregory

Contributed equally to this work with: Simon G. Gregory, Allison E. Ashley-Koch

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Allison E. Ashley-Koch

Contributed equally to this work with: Simon G. Gregory, Allison E. Ashley-Koch

allison.ashleykoch@duke.edu

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Competing Interests

1) Financial: An invention disclosure form (IDF) has been submitted for the invention titled "Genes Involved in Chiari Type I Malformation". It was received by the Duke Office of Licensing and Ventures and assigned the IDF#3930 (CAM, SGG, and AAK), and 2) Professional: Dr. Allison Ashley-Koch is chair of the Chiari and Syringomyelia Foundation (CSF) scientific, education, and advisory board. CSF provided partial funding for this study, as well as salary support for Ms. Christina Markunas. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CAM SGG AAK. Performed the experiments: CAM KS KD HC EA JS. Analyzed the data: CAM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DE GG HF SGG AAK. Wrote the paper: CAM KS KD HC EA JS DE GG HF SGG AAK.