Associate Director of Lung Research DHLRI
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
513 Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute
473 W. 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
614-685-9526
Ana.Mora@osumc.edu
Ana L. Mora received her MD from Universidad Nacional de Colombia Medical School in Bogota, Colombia. After Research Trainee and Research Associate in Immunology in Colombia, Dr. Mora had her postdoctoral training as a Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Mora moved to Emory University in 2002 as faculty in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine of the Emory University Department of Medicine, and in 2010 she joined the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and the Vascular Medicine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. From 2018 to 2021, Dr. Mora was faculty member of the Aging Institute of the University of Pittsburgh as Director of Education. Since February 2021, join the Division of Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Ohio State University as Associate Director of Lung Research.
Current Research
Dr. Mora’s research is focused in the elucidation of the pathogenic mechanisms involved in the disrepair and fibrosis in the lung and importantly, how aging-related cell perturbations contribute to this pathogenic process. Her pioneered aging studies showed that vulnerability and persistence of ER stress responses are key components of the age-related susceptibility to injury and lung fibrosis; and elucidated the novel concept that alterations in mitochondrial homeostasis have a key role in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis pathogenesis and a therapeutic target to halt the progression of the disease. Her work has been published in more than 96 peer review publications, several book chapters and editorial comments.
Research Interests
- Aging
- Lung Epithelial Cell Biology
- Lung Fibrosis
- Mitochondrial Biology
- Metabolic adaptations
- DNA damage
Education and Training
- M.D., Universidad Nacional de Colombia Medical School, Bogota, Colombia
- Immunology Fellow, Institute of Immunology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia
- Molecular Immunology Fellow, Vanderbilt University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Nashville, TN
Active Funding
- NHLBI R01 HL149825-01 (Mora/Straub), 12/1/2019 – 11/30/2023
“Type II Alveolar Redox Control in Fibrogenesis and Resolution” - NHLBI U01 HL145550 (Rojas/Mora/Finkel/Lafyatis) ,9/20/2019 – 6/30/2023
“Mapping Age-Related Changes in the Lung”
Academic Editor, PLoS One, 2012 - present
Member Editorial Board, American Journal Respiratory Cell Molecular Biology, ATS, 2013 – present
Member Editorial Board, American Journal of Physiology-Lung, 2015 - present
Sidney P. Colowick Award for Outstanding Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University, 1999
AAI Minority Scientist American Association of Immunologists, 2003
Scholar, McKelvey Center Emory University, 2003-2010
Research Award, Münchner Bank HelmholtzZentrum Munich, 3rd Munich Lung Conference, International DZL Symposium, 2013
Research Award, Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Summit, 2013
Ad hoc Reviewer, NIH NHLBI Study Section LIRR, 2012, 2017
Reviewer NIH NHLBI Aging RFA, 2015
Reviewer NIH NHLBI PPG application, 2017
Reviewer NIH NHLBI SEP, 2017, 2018
Reviewer NIH NHLBI repository RFA, 2018
Reviewer NIH NHLBI Physician Scientist, 2018
Permanent Member LIRR Study Section NIH, 2019 – 2025
European Respiratory Society, 2013 - present
American Society of Physiology, 2020-present
American Thoracic Society, 2002-present
- Torres-Gonzalez E, Bueno M, Tanaka A, Krug L, Cheng D-S, Sorescu D, Blackwell T, Rojas M, Mora AL. Endoplasmic reticulum stress in age-related susceptibility to lung fibrosis. Am J Respir Cell MolBiol. 2012. Jun; 46 (6). PMID: 22227563. PMCID: PMC3380287.
- Bueno M, Lai Y-C, Romero Y, Brands J, StCroix C, Kamga C, Corey C, Herazo-Maya JD, Sembrant J, Lee J, Duncan SR, Rojas M, Shiva S, Chu CT, Mora AL. PINK1 deficiency impairs mitochondrial homeostasis and promotes lung fibrosis. J. Clin Invest.,2015. 125(2):521-38. PMID: 25562319. PMCID: PMC4319413. Featured in JCI Impact and cover.
- Romero Y, Bueno M, Ramirez R, Alvarez D, Sembrat J, Goncharova EA, Rojas M, Selman M, Mora AL, Pardo A. mTORC1 activation decreases autophagy in aging and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and contributes to apoptosis resistance in IPF fibroblasts. Aging Cell, 2016, PMID: 27566137. PMCID: PMC6398527.
- Bueno M, Brands J, Voltz L, Fiedler K, Sembrat J, Mallampalli RK, Rojas M, and Mora AL. ATF3 represses PINK1 gene transcription in lung epithelia to control mitochondrial homeostasis. 2018, Aging Cell, 17(2). PMID: 29363258. PMCID: PMC5847866.
- Bueno M, Fiedler K, Villa D, Bermudez F, Buendia I, Nourai S-M, Zank D, Rojas M, Pardo A, Kaufman B, Selman M, and Mora AL. PINK1 attenuates mtDNA release in alveolar epithelial cells and TLR9 mediated profibrotic responses. 2019 PlosOne. PlosOne 14(6):e02118003. PMID 31170232.
- Mora AL, Selman M, Pardo A, Rojas M. Emerging therapies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive age-related disease. Nature Review Drug Discovery, 2017, 16:755–772. PMID: 28983101.
- Zank D, Bueno M, Rojas M, Mora AL. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Aging, Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Cellular Bioenergetics. Frontiers in Medicine, 2018, Feb5:5:10. PMID: 29459894. PMCID: PMC5807592.
- Bueno M, Calyeca MJ, Rojas M, Mora AL. Mitochondria dysfunction and metabolic reprogramming as drivers of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 2020. Redox Biology. 2020:101509 , PMID:32234292.
- Bueno M, Papazogloua A, Valenzi E, Rojas M, Lafyatis R, and Mora AL. Mitochondria, aging and cellular senescence: implications for scleroderma. 2020. Current Rheumatology Reports,22 37. PMID:32562128.
- Kaufman BA, MoraAL. IRGM1, a guardian of mitochondrial DAMP-mediated autoinflammation. Nature Immunology.2021. 22(3):272-273.PMID 33547457.