
Brooke Emerling, Ph.D.
Lab Website
Brooke Emerling's Research Focus
Research in the Emerling Lab is focused on understanding key signaling and metabolic pathways involved in the regulation of cellular function under pathological conditions such as cancer. Our research program centers around dissecting the roles of the family of non-canonical phosphatidylinositol kinases, called the phosphatidylinositol-5-phosphate 4-kinases (PI5P4Ks), in cancer metabolism using a multi-disciplinary approach integrating human, mouse, and worm models. Currently, a major research project in the Emerling Lab is determining the role of the PI5P4Ks in p53 mutant cancers, especially the triple-negative breast cancer subgroup where targeted therapies have not been effective.
Brooke Emerling's Bio
Emerling received her B.A. from the University of California Santa Cruz and her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from Northwestern University. Emerling did her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School. She then became an Instructor of Cancer Biology in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, where she continued her research on lipid kinase signaling and cancer metabolism. In August 2016, Brooke joined the faculty at SBP Medical Discovery Institute as an Assistant Professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Signaling Networks Program.
Funding Awards and Collaborative Grants
Breast Cancer Research Foundation - AACR Career Development Award for Translational Breast Cancer Research
Mary Kay Foundation Innovative Translational Grant Award
Department of Defense Breast Research Program Breakthrough Award
Honors and Recognition
2013: AACR – Aflac Travel Fellowship Award
2013-2016: Mastercard Ajay Banga Scientist Award
2014: NextGen Star – AACR Early-Career Speaker Award

Publications
Phosphatidylinositol-5-Phosphate 4-Kinases Regulate Cellular Lipid Metabolism By Facilitating Autophagy.
Lundquist MR, Goncalves MD, Loughran RM, Possik E, Vijayaraghavan T, Yang A, Pauli C, Ravi A, Verma A, Yang Z, Johnson JL, Wong JCY, Ma Y, Hwang KS, Weinkove D, Divecha N, Asara JM, Elemento O, Rubin MA, Kimmelman AC, Pause A, Cantley LC, Emerling BM
Mol Cell 2018 May 3 ;70(3):531-544.e9
The Lipid Kinase PI5P4Kβ Is an Intracellular GTP Sensor for Metabolism and Tumorigenesis.
Sumita K, Lo YH, Takeuchi K, Senda M, Kofuji S, Ikeda Y, Terakawa J, Sasaki M, Yoshino H, Majd N, Zheng Y, Kahoud ER, Yokota T, Emerling BM, Asara JM, Ishida T, Locasale JW, Daikoku T, Anastasiou D, Senda T, Sasaki AT
Mol Cell 2016 Jan 21 ;61(2):187-98
Depletion of a putatively druggable class of phosphatidylinositol kinases inhibits growth of p53-null tumors.
Emerling BM, Hurov JB, Poulogiannis G, Tsukazawa KS, Choo-Wing R, Wulf GM, Bell EL, Shim HS, Lamia KA, Rameh LE, Bellinger G, Sasaki AT, Asara JM, Yuan X, Bullock A, Denicola GM, Song J, Brown V, Signoretti S, Cantley LC
Cell 2013 Nov 7 ;155(4):844-57
ORP5 regulates PI(4)P on the lipid droplet: Novel players on the monolayer.
Renne MF, Emerling BM
J Cell Biol 2020 Jan 6 ;219(1)
Phosphoinositides in autophagy: current roles and future insights.
Palamiuc L, Ravi A, Emerling BM
FEBS J 2020 Jan ;287(2):222-238
Phosphatidylinositol-5-Phosphate 4-Kinases Regulate Cellular Lipid Metabolism By Facilitating Autophagy.
Lundquist MR, Goncalves MD, Loughran RM, Possik E, Vijayaraghavan T, Yang A, Pauli C, Ravi A, Verma A, Yang Z, Johnson JL, Wong JCY, Ma Y, Hwang KS, Weinkove D, Divecha N, Asara JM, Elemento O, Rubin MA, Kimmelman AC, Pause A, Cantley LC, Emerling BM
Mol Cell 2018 May 3 ;70(3):531-544.e9
Fenofibrate prevents skeletal muscle loss in mice with lung cancer.
Goncalves MD, Hwang SK, Pauli C, Murphy CJ, Cheng Z, Hopkins BD, Wu D, Loughran RM, Emerling BM, Zhang G, Fearon DT, Cantley LC
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018 Jan 23 ;115(4):E743-E752
PSMA brings new flavors to PI3K signaling: A role for glutamate in prostate cancer.
Palamiuc L, Emerling BM
J Exp Med 2018 Jan 2 ;215(1):17-19
PIP-ing Lipids on Membranes: PTEN Takes the Cake.
Ravi A, Emerling BM
Mol Cell 2017 Nov 2 ;68(3):471-472