/College of Arts and Sciences
Biochemistry & Cell Biology

 

Michael Airola, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology

Office: 470 Life Sciences Building

airola_mike

Graduate Program Director,  Biochemistry and Structural Biology PhD Program

Co-Director, Lipid Research Division, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

 

The Airola lab is broadly interested in understanding the molecular details of lipid metabolism and transport, and developing therapeutics that target these pathways. We focus on all aspects of lipid metabolism ranging from triglycerides, phospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterols. Details about specific projects are listed below:

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If you are a new graduate student interested in learning more about current research areas, please email us at michael.airola@stonybrook.edu to discuss and/or setup a rotation. If you are prospective postdoc interested in our work, please email a CV, cover letter, and a list of three references.

A complete and current list of publications is available here

 

Selected publications 

Van der Waals interactions mediate the enantiomeric substrate preference of the CTP:phosphoglycerate cytidylyltransferase CpgD.
Raquib R, Dhakephalkar T, Klein R, Airola MV. bioxriv. 2026 doi:https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.18.725363
 
DDHD2 possesses both lipase and transacylase capacities that remodel triglyceride acyl chains.
Wu L, Choi YM, Omrane M, Chai J, Gao S, Thiam AR, Canals D, Airola MV. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2025 Nov 25;122(47):e2500527122.

Structures of a lipin/Pah phosphatidic acid phosphatase in distinct catalytic states reveal a signature motif for substrate recognition.
Vitkovska T, Welcome FS, Khayyo VI, Gao S, Wymore T, Airola MV. J Biol Chem. 2025 Dec;301(12):110830.
 
PILS-Nir1 is a sensitive phosphatidic acid biosensor that reveals mechanisms of lipid production.
Weckerly CC, Rahn TA, Ehrlich M, Wills RC, Pemberton JG, Airola MV, Hammond GRV. J Cell Biol. 2025 Nov 3;224(11):e202405174.
 
Structure and mechanism of the human CTDNEP1-NEP1R1 membrane protein phosphatase complex necessary to maintain ER membrane morphology.
Gao S, Carrasquillo Rodríguez JW, Bahmanyar S, Airola MV. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2024 May 28;121(22):e2321167121.
 
Differential reliance of CTD-nuclear envelope phosphatase 1 on its regulatory subunit in ER lipid synthesis and storage.
Carrasquillo Rodríguez JW, Uche O, Gao S, Lee S, Airola MV, Bahmanyar S. Mol Biol Cell. 2024 Jul 1;35(7):ar101.
 
PLIN5 interacts with FATP4 at membrane contact sites to promote lipid droplet-to-mitochondria fatty acid transport.
Miner GE, So CM, Edwards W, Ragusa JV, Wine JT, Wong Gutierrez D, Airola MV, Herring LE, Coleman RA, Klett EL, Cohen S. Dev Cell. 2023 Jul 24;58(14):1250-1265.e6.
 
Structural insights into perilipin 3 membrane association in response to diacylglycerol accumulation.
Choi YM, Ajjaji D, Fleming KD, Borbat PP, Jenkins ML, Moeller BE, Fernando S, Bhatia SR, Freed JH, Burke JE, Thiam AR, Airola MV. Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 2;14(1):3204.
 
Targeting Sterylglucosidase A to Treat Aspergillus fumigatus Infections.
Pereira de Sa N, Jayanetti K, Rendina D, Clement T, Soares Brauer V, Mota Fernandes C, Ojima I, Airola MV, Del Poeta M. mBio. 2023 Apr 25;14(2):e0033923.
 
Defining the proximal interaction networks of Arf GTPases reveals a mechanism for the regulation of PLD1 and PI4KB.
Li FL, Wu Z, Gao YQ, Bowling FZ, Franklin JM, Hu C, Suhandynata RT, Frohman MA, Airola MV, Zhou H, Guan KL. EMBO J. 2022 Sep 1;41(17):e110698.
 
Structure and inhibition of Cryptococcus neoformans sterylglucosidase to develop antifungal agents.
Pereira de Sa N, Taouil A, Kim J, Clement T, Hoffmann RM, Burke JE, Rizzo RC, Ojima I, Del Poeta M, Airola MV. Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 7;12(1):5885.
 
The middle lipin domain adopts a membrane-binding dimeric protein fold.
Gu W, Gao S, Wang H, Fleming KD, Hoffmann RM, Yang JW, Patel NM, Choi YM, Burke JE, Reue K, Airola MV. Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 5;12(1):4718.
 
Crystal structure of human PLD1 provides insight into activation by PI(4,5)P2 and RhoA.
Bowling FZ, Salazar CM, Bell JA, Huq TS, Frohman MA, Airola MV. Nat Chem Biol. 2020 Apr;16(4):400-407.
 
Crystal structure of a lipin/Pah phosphatidic acid phosphatase.
Khayyo VI, Hoffmann RM, Wang H, Bell JA, Burke JE, Reue K, Airola MV. Nat Commun. 2020 Mar 11;11(1):1309.