Mitochondria are iconic structures in cell biology and have long been appreciated as centerpieces of bioenergetics. However, many features of these organelles remain remarkably obscure, ranging from the basic functions of orphan mitochondrial proteins to the nature of acute regulation of mitochondrial activities and the mechanisms that these organelles use to communicate with the rest of the cell. Our weak grasp on these and other core features of mitochondria underlie our poor ability to address mitochondrial dysfunction therapeutically. This meeting will bring together world leaders in diverse areas of mitochondrial biology to discuss new tools and emerging themes in the field, including the use of multi-layered omics analyses and systems biology to functionalize new disease-related proteins, the use of metabolomics and ribosome profiling methods to elucidate the orchestration of the many distinct events required for mitochondrial biogenesis, and the application of novel imaging and labeling approaches to reveal the nature of mitochondrial dynamics and inter-organellar contacts.