Padmanabhan Padmanabhan "Unni" Nair

Padmanabhan ("Unni") Nair PhD, FAAAS, age 92, of Ellicott City, Maryland passed away on March 30, 2024 at the Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center.

Born on November 9, 1931 in Singapore, British Crown Colony, Dr. Nair was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and esteemed scholar. He dedicated his life to academia and medical science, excelling in his field as a biochemist, educator, and medical research scientist.

His thirst for knowledge led him through a distinguished educational journey, starting at the Anglo-Chinese School in Rawang, Malaya, and continuing to the Model School in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. He received his BSc from the University of Travancore in 1951, and his MSc in 1954 and PhD in 1956, both from the Royal Institute of Science Bombay under the mentorship of Professor N.G. Magar, and where he was awarded a Raptakos Medical Research Fellowship. From 1958-1960 he worked as a Research Officer at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Pathology, in New Delhi, India.

Dr. Nair moved to the United States in 1960 when he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to do research at the Johns Hopkins University McCollum-Pratt Institute with Professors Alvin Nason and William McElroy. He maintained his connection with the Johns Hopkins University throughout his life, as a Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Department of International Health respectively.

From 1963 to 1983 he served as Director of the Biochemistry Research Division and the Division of Research Medicine at the Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, recruited by Dr. Albert Mendeloff, Chief of Medicine. His team's accomplishments included: pioneering work on gas-liquid chromatographic techniques for fat-soluble vitamins, sterols, bile acids and steroid hormones; the discovery of the enzyme cholylglycine hydrolase (bile salt hydrolase) from the bacterium Clostridium perfringens, the discovery, isolation, identification and localization of the plasticizer and toxin di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in heart muscle mitochondria, the discovery of the binding of bile acid to protein (lithocholyl-lysine) in mammalian tissue, and numerous studies of on the metabolism and physiological effects of Vitamin E, cholesterol, and the bile acids.

From 1968 to 1972 he was a Principal Investigator with NASA's Apollo Space Program, investigating the pathophysiology of hyperoxia in order to optimize the life-support systems for astronauts.

From 1983 to 1997 he served as Senior Research Scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center headed by Dr. Walter Mertz and later Dr. Joseph Judd. His team's accomplishments included: numerous large-scale human nutrition studies; continued work on bile acids; development of a novel quantative mutagenicity test (the SOS Microplate Mutagenicity Assay); demonstration of the test as a marker of cancer risk; the discovery that cells isolated from fecal samples can survive passage through the colon in large numbers; demonstration that such cell's surface and intracellular proteins, mRNA, and DNA can be examined for gene expression and gene mutation; development of a unique affinity column for the separation of eukaryotic DNA from prokaryotic DNA.

From 1998 to his death, Dr. Nair was CEO of NonInvasive Technologies LLC in Elkridge, MD. There he continued his work on exfoliated colonic cells, with the goal of producing tests for the early detection and tracking of various diseases, including colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn's disease. His team discovered that exfoliated cells can be expanded in tissue-culture and some cells have antibody-producing capability when challenged with cancerous cells. Most recently, Dr. Nair was working with his colleagues at Sinai Hospital Department of Gastroenterology studying fecal transplantation and the biology of fecal microbiota. At the time of his death he was also attempting to set up human studies to develop personalized antibodies to target an individual's own tumor.

Among his honors, he was elected Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in 1966 and served as a Council Member from 1966 to 1972. In 1978 he was elected to the Roll of Honor at the Institute of Science Mumbai.

Dr. Nair was co-author and co-editor on several texts on the Bile Acids (with his close friend Dr. David Kritchevsky), Vitamin E, and Nutrition and co-editor of several scientific journals.

But he was most proud of his role as a teacher and advisor to young scientists and physicians. He mentored and collaborated with dozens of them in his long association with Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, Agricultural Research Service, Walter Reed Hospital, and Bethesda Naval Medical Center. At the time of his death he was an Adjunct Professor of International Health at the Center for Human Nutrition, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

His hobbies were talking science, politics and history, nature photography, reading biographies, and playing with his dogs and cats.

Dr. Nair is survived by his loving spouse, Dr. Prasanna Nair, his children Balagopal (Karen Meyer), Jaygopal (Neeru Kaushik), and Ram, his grandchildren Patrick and Michael Nair and his beloved dog CeeCee. He was preceded in death by his parents, K.P. Padmanabhan Nair and Kunjalekshmy Amma.

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Memorial Service/Celebration of Life

Please join our family in commemorating the life and legacy of Dr. Nair on Sunday, May 19 between 4:00pm and 7:00pm, with Eulogy to be given at 5:30pm. The service will be held at:

Linden Hall
4765 Dorsey Hall Drive
Ellicott City, Maryland 21042

Light refreshments will be served.
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In lieu of flowers, the family requests that if desired, memorial donations be made to the general or educational funds of any of these scientific societies:

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) https://www.asbmb.org/donate

American Chemical Society (ACS) https://www.acs.org/donate.html

Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) https://www.faseb.org/about/donate

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) https://www.aaas.org/support#s