Alessia Pepe^1*, Antonella Meloni^1*, Maddalena Casale^2*, Maria Giovanna Neri^1*, Pier Paolo Bitti^3*, Silvia Macchi^4*, Giovanni Roberto Giugno^5*, Lucia De Franceschi, MD⁶, Massimiliano Missere^7*, Patrizia Toia^8*, Vincenzo Positano^1* and Aldo Filosa, MD^2*

¹CMR Unit, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy
²Centro per la Cura delle Microcitemie, Cardarelli Hospital, Napoli, Italy
³Ambulatorio Trasfusionale Servizio Immunoematologia e Medicina Trasfusionale, P. O. San Francesco - ASL Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy
⁴Servizio Trasfusionale, Ospedale Santa Maria delle Croci, Ravenna, Italy
⁵U.O.C. Pediatria e Neonatologia, Az. Osp. Gravina, Caltagirone (CT), Italy
⁶Department of Medicine, University of Verona and AOUI-Verona, Verona, Italy
⁷Dipartimento di Immagini, Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura, Campobasso, Italy
⁸Sezione di Scienze Radiologiche, Policlinico, Palermo, Italy

Mariasanta Napolitano, MD, PhD^1*, Calogera Gerardi, MD^2*, Anna Di Lucia, MD^2*, Pietro Andrea Accardo, MD^3*, Luigi Rizzuto, PhD^3*, Ferraro Maria, PhD^3*, Giuseppe Tarantino, MD^1*, Sergio Siragusa, MD¹ and Filippo Buscemi, MD^3*

¹Hematology Unit, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
²Banca del Sangue da Cordone Ombelicale, UOC Medicina Trasfusionale,, General Hospital, sciacca, Italy
³UOS Talassemia, General Hospital, sciacca, Italy

Bunchoo Pongtanakul, MD^1* and Vip Viprakasit, Dr.²

¹Division of Hematology and Oncology,Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine,Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
²Department of Pediatrics, Siriraj Hospital, Madihol University, Bangkoknoi, Bangkok, Thailand

M Akif Yesilipek, MD^1*, Gulsun Karasu, MD^2*, Zuhre Kaya, MD^3*, Baris B Kuskonmaz, MD^4*, Vedat Uygun, MD^1*, Ilkiz Dag, MD^5*, Asli Birkent, MD^5* and Mehmet Ertem, MD^6*

¹Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric Hematology Department, Bahcesehir University, Antalya, Turkey
²Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric Hematology Department, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey
³Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric Hematology Department, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
⁴Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric Hematology Department, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
⁵Novartis Oncology, Novartis Saglik, Gida ve Tarim Urunleri San. ve Tic. A.S, Istanbul, Turkey
⁶Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric Hematology Department, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

Katharine Rose Press, BA^1*, Jeffrey Keefer, MD, PhD¹, Steven D. Gore, MD², Hetty E. Carraway, MD, MBA³, Sarah Sakoian^1* and Thomas Prebet, MD⁴

¹Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
²Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, CT
³Leukemia Program, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
⁴Dept of Internal Medicine, Section of Hematology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

Shuaiying Cui, Ph.D.^1*, Jose Sangerman, Ph.D.^2*, Seyed Mehdi Nouraie, M.D., Ph.D.^3*, Yan Dai, Ph.D.^4*, Oluwakemi Owoyemi, M.D, MPH^5*, Robert E. Taylor, MD, PhD⁶ and Susan P. Perrine, M.D.⁷

¹Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI
²Cancer Center, Hemoglobinopathy Thalasssemia Research Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
³Department of Medicine, Center for Sickle Cell Disease, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
⁴Cancer Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
⁵Center for Sickle Cell Disease, Howard University, Washington, DC
⁶Department of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC
⁷Cancer Center, Hemoglobinopathy Thalassemia Research Unit, Boston Univ. School of Med., Boston, MA

Kenneth R Peterson, PhD^1,2, Levi C Makala, DVM, MBA, PhD³, Mayuko Takezaki, MS^4*, Carlos F Barbas III, PhD^5* and Betty Pace, MD^6,7

¹Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
²Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
³Department of Pediatrics and Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA
⁴Pediatrics, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA
⁵Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
⁶Sickle Cell Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA
⁷Department of Pediatrics, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA

Ching-Tien Peng, MD, PHD

Department of Pediatric Hem./Onc., Children's Hospital of China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan, Taichung, Taiwan