Martin Picard, director of the Mitochondrial Psychobiology Lab at Columbia University, has an unconventional view of health and consciousness. He believes mitochondria — the organelles that produce energy in our cells — are the key to understanding the connection between body and mind[reference:125].
Most people learn in school that mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell. They make ATP, the energy currency of life. But Picard sees them as much more: orchestrators of cell function, pattern-generating units in the body's circuit, and the microscopic alchemists that coax thought out of matter[reference:126].
The Energetic View of Life
Picard's "energetic view of life" posits that distinct energetic states exist for health and disease, and mitochondria are the tiny transformers responsible[reference:127]. The flow of electrons from food to oxygen in metabolism — processed by mitochondria — is the most basic level of the experience of being alive[reference:128].
"If the energy stops flowing, there's no more you," Picard says[reference:129]. The genome may encode the proteins that support life, but if the energy flow required for their regulation and production is disrupted, "there's no more consciousness, there's no more emotion, there's no more life[reference:130]."
Beyond Energy Production
Mitochondria do far more than generate energy[reference:131]. They supply raw materials for neurotransmitters like glutamate and acetylcholine. They initiate the synthesis of all steroid hormones, including cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. They buffer and release calcium, involved in everything from muscle contraction to gene transcription. They produce reactive oxygen species that activate immune cells. They play central roles in programmed cell death and even in determining when cells should die[reference:132].
This ever-expanding list of core processes strongly suggests how mitochondrial dysfunction could relate to many diseases — and has set off a paradigm shift in how researchers see the organelles[reference:133].
Connecting Mitochondria to Mind
In 2015, Picard showed that mice with different mitochondrial defects responded very differently to mental stress[reference:134]. "If you change mitochondria, you change how the organism perceives or responds to mental stress," he said[reference:135].
Other researchers have built on this work. Neuroscientist Carmen Sandi showed that rats with naturally anxious or depressed behavior suffered from malfunctioning mitochondria in their brain cells. When she treated the mitochondria, the animals showed fewer signs of anxiety[reference:136].
In 2025, Picard co-authored a map of mitochondria across the human brain — revealing that mitochondria vary not only across brain regions but also between cell types[reference:137]. The map is an invitation for other scientists to explore the "molecular energetic landscape" underlying brain structure and function — including consciousness[reference:138].
The Metabolic Chamber Study
Picard's lab has taken a unique approach to studying these connections. In 2021, Picard spent 24 hours in a metabolic research chamber — one of only 50 in the world — as the first subject in an experiment tracking energy expenditure and mood[reference:139].
Participants who had rare mitochondrial diseases burned 180 more calories per day and expended 15% more energy, even when sleeping[reference:140]. Those subjects reported feeling more fatigued and stressed. Biomarkers showed elevated levels of metabolic molecules that correlate with anxiety[reference:141].
In the real world, the caloric gap nearly closed — healthy subjects expended more energy when free-living, while those with mitochondrial disease moved less[reference:142]. The findings suggest how mitochondrial processes "ripple out and affect the organism[reference:143]."
A New Institute on the Horizon
Picard plans to launch a nonprofit institute in 2027 to translate laboratory discoveries into real-world applications. He envisions integrating insights about mitochondria, metabolism, and energy with the human experience — establishing a new field of healing science "that will aim to support human flourishing[reference:144]."
Some colleagues caution that Picard's ideas are interesting but "by no means" demonstrated[reference:145]. But skepticism is usually overcome once they see the data[reference:146].
Picard acknowledges his ideas can be challenging. "I'm a little heretical for wanting to bridge the bioenergetic processes inside mitochondria to the human experience," he says. "But my sense is, if we don't do that, we're failing at the biggest opportunity around[reference:147]."