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Mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, would have been good models for the “Got Milk?” campaign; they have an insatiable thirst for calcium. “It’s an incredibly strong phenomenon. When you give mitochondria a pulse of calcium, they just take in all of it,” said Vamsi Mootha, professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School and professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Taking in and sending out calcium appears to be one way mitochondria coordinate their activity with the rest of the cell. Cells may send calcium signals to mitochondria to turbocharge energy production during exercise. Absorbing and selectively releasing calcium may also allow mitochondria to fine-tune cellular signals that influence the release of neurotransmitters, muscle contraction, insulin release, gene activity and cell growth.

On the flip side, mitochondria that overindulge in calcium can burst and trigger cell death. Calcium buildups in mitochondria have been documented in common age-related conditions such as neurodegenerative disease, type 2 diabetes and muscle atrophy.

Although researchers noticed decades ago that mitochondria soak up calcium like sponges, they couldn’t understand how it happens—or the role the process may play in disease—until they identified all the players.

Enter Mootha and his team of biologists, computer scientists, biochemists and clinicians. In the last 10 years they have systematically catalogued every protein that makes up mitochondria (they have found more than 1,000) and figured out which ones are involved in calcium intake (about five).

Most creatures, oxygen is life. But biology is complicated, and researchers hoping to treat diseases in which our cells’ energy-providing machinery is faulty now suggest the opposite may also be true: Depriving cells of oxygen could be a boon to health. The unexpected idea has been tested only in cells and animals so far, but some scientists are already considering whether lowering oxygen levels might treat certain rare but deadly conditions. Oxygen is life. But biology is complicated, and researchers hoping to treat diseases in which our cells’ energy-providing machinery is faulty now suggest the opposite may also be true: Depriving cells of oxygen could be a boon to health. The unexpected idea has been tested only in cells and animals so far, but some scientists are already considering whether lowering oxygen levels might treat certain rare but deadly conditions. Mitochondrial diseases are a large and heterogeneous group of conditions where the cellular reactors (mitochondria) fail to produce energy normally. Because mitochondria are vital to every organ in the body and perform various functions within cells, mitochondrial diseases can present with numerous symptoms and can be hard to diagnose. At Stanford, patients suspected of having mitochondrial diseases are seen by a team who specializes in the evaluation and treatment of these complex group of conditions.

Top 5 selling Books on Mitochondria

1) Mitochondria and the Future of Medicine: The Key to Understanding Disease, Chronic Illness, Aging, and Life Itself Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Lee Know (Author), Madison Niederhauser (Narrator), & 1 more

2) Mitochondria: Structure, Functions, and Dysfunctions Hardcover –

3) Biochemistry of Mitochondria Hardcover

4) The molecular biology of plant mitochondria Hardcover – Illustrated

by Charles S. Levings III (Editor), Indra K. Vasil (Editor)

5) Pharmacology of Mitochondria (Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology 240)

by Harpreet Singh and Shey-Shing Sheu