Hoshang Unwalla is a tenured professor and researcher focused on understanding the mechanisms that drive lung comorbidities in people living with HIV, to develop therapeutics to restore or prevent lung function decline.
The Unwalla Lab investigates how HIV proteins, cigarette smoke, and impaired mucociliary clearance contribute to chronic lung disease, including COPD, pulmonary hypertension and pneumonia. His team studies how these factors alter immune responses, accelerate HIV replication, and disrupt mitochondrial homeostasis, leading to chronic inflammation and reduced lung function. His work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.
He previously held research appointments at the University of Miami and the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope, where he was awarded an amfAR Foundation for AIDS Research fellowship. .
Areas of Expertise
- HIV pathogenesis
- Pulmonary medicine and lung disease
- Gene therapy and aptamer technology
- Molecular mechanisms of COPD and pneumonia
Research Interests
- Mechanisms driving lung comorbidities in HIV patients
- Pulmonary complications in smokers and nonsmokers with HIV
- Mucociliary clearance dysfunction and airway infections
- Role of TGF-beta signaling in airway disease
- Impact of HIV and cigarette smoke on the microRNAome and mitochondrial dynamics
- Therapeutic development for HIV-associated lung disease
See research publications and more on FIU Discovery.
Honors & Awards
- Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) fellowship
Education
- Postdoctoral fellowship, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- Ph.D., National Institute of Immunology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India