The Kallianpur lab examines the role that variation in iron metabolism and mitochondrial function (energy production) play in chronic inflammatory diseases and their complications. Of particular interest are HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), which remain very common despite highly effective drugs that suppress the virus to undetectable levels. Their goal is to increase awareness of HAND in the HIV-infected population, promote screening for the disorder, and develop new ways to treat individuals at risk for HAND based on genomic factors.
Education & Fellowships
Medical Education - Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplantation
Nashville, TN USA
1995
Fellowship - Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Hematology
Nashville, TN USA
1993
Residency - Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Internal Medicine
Nashville, TN USA
1991
Internship - Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Internal Medicine
Nashville, TN USA
1989
Medical Education - University of North Carolina Health Care System
Chapel Hill, NC USA
1988
Undergraduate - University of North Carolina Health Care System
Zoology
Chapel Hill, NC USA
1984
Certifications
Dr. Kallianpur’s lab conducts translational research focused on understanding the roles played by iron transport and the genomic regulation of iron metabolism in chronic inflammatory conditions. Iron is essential for all metabolic and respiratory processes, but requires tight cellular compartmentalization due to its role in generating free radicals via Fenton chemistry. Both iron deficiency and iron excess also cause mitochondrial dysfunction, a factor implicated in chronic disease pathogenesis, but the role of iron in these diseases and their natural history is underappreciated and has not been well studied in humans. In addition, iron regulation has a major impact on innate immunity and the inflammatory response, which the Kallianpur lab studies in the setting of HIV infection.
Researchers in the Kallinapur lab exploit common iron-loading nuclear genetic variants, which in the heterozygous state are deemed "nonpathogenic," to study subclinically dysregulated iron metabolism and mitochondrial function in:
As a clinician and population-based scientist, Dr. Kallianpur is interested in applying genetic epidemiologic methods to study the role of iron and the mitochondrial genome in a multitude of chronic, complex clinical phenotypes.
View publications for Asha Kallianpur, MD, MPH
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Dr. Kallianpur’s team found that higher levels of the iron-delivery proteins heavy-chain ferritin and transferrin predict better cognitive outcomes in people with HIV, independent of factors like inflammation, over an extended period of follow-up.
Dr. Kallianpur’s team will investigate the role of iron in depression and cognitive impairment in people with HIV.
Dr. Kallianpur will investigate if kidney disease and cognitive impairment in people with HIV share an underlying mechanism and potentially highlight non-invasive biomarkers for these disorders.
The genes and pathways identified in the research represent novel and viable targets for future therapeutic interventions.