In Part 2 of his talk, Rutter describes his group’s work to unravel the relationship between the activity of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier (MPC) and the behavior of numerous cell types, including cancer and stem cells. His group found that forced expression of the MPC in multiple stem cell models led to reduced “stemness” and proliferative capacity, and that MPC inhibition could promote organoid formation in culture and tumor formation in vivo. These data indicate an important link between mitochondria, metabolism, and cell behavior.