The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10863-007-9087-9Mitochondrial research has experienced a considerable boost during the last decade because organelle malfunctioning is in the genesis and/or progression of a vast array of human pathologies including cancer. The renaissance of mitochondria in the cancer field has been promoted by two main facts: (1) the molecular and functional integration of mitochondrial bioenergetics with the execution of cell death and (2) the implementation of 18FDG-PET for imaging and staging of tumors in clinical practice. The latter, represents the bed-side translational development of the metabolic hallmark that describes the bioenergetic phenotype of most cancer cells as originally predicted at the beginning of previous century by Otto Warburg. In this minireview we will briefly summarize how the study of energy metabolism during liver development forced our encounter with Warburg’s postulates and prompted us to study the mechanisms that regulate the biogenesis of mitochondria in the cancer cellThis review article was written while the research activity in the authors’ laboratory was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Sanidad (PI041255), Educación y Ciencia (SAF2005-4001) and Fundación Mutua Madrileña. The CBMSO is the recipient of an institutional grant from Fundación Ramón ArecesPeer reviewed