Airola seeks the secrets of lipid-modifying enzymes

Michael Airola was introduced to lipid research as a graduate student in Brian R. Crane’s lab at Cornell University, studying bacterial receptors involving transmembrane signaling.

“This was when researchers who work with membrane proteins started using model lipid membranes like nanodiscs and paying attention to the effect of the lipid environment on membrane protein structure and function,” he said.

Michael Airola

Airola’s horizons widened when, for his postdoc, he moved to Yusuf A. Hannun’s lab at Stony Brook University.

“Hannun is a pioneer in studying the enzymes involved in sphingolipid metabolism,” Airola said. “He was interested in atomic details of how these enzymes work. … I brought structural skills and learned a lot about lipid biochemistry and techniques related to handling lipids and working with lipid membranes. Also, I got exposed to cell biology, animal work and drug development.”

Lipids are cellular building blocks and essential to many cellular functions. They are closely associated with chronic disorders, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, so learning about lipids is vital to improving human health. And that’s what Airola continues to do as an assistant professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Stony Brook.
“Our lab is broadly interested in lipid metabolism and transport,” he said. “We seek to understand the molecular details of these processes and develop new pharmacological and genetically encoded tools to monitor and control the generation of lipids in the cell.”

During the COVID-19 shutdown, Airola helped start the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s online Lipid Research Division Seminar Series, now attended each month by about 350 scientists. He is a junior associate editor of the Journal of Lipid Research, and he received the ASBMB’s 2022 Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator of Lipid Research Award.