© MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
,© MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
, In this first part, we will talk about how lipids physically build the boundary between life and chaos.
What we will explore in this module:
The Power of Hydrophobicity: why lipids "flee" from water and how this physical rejection allowed
the birth of the first cells.
© MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
The Building Blocks: Fatty acids. We will discover the difference between saturated and unsaturated
(and why they determine if a fat is solid or liquid).
The Three Main Protagonists:
Triglycerides: the world champions of energy storage.
Phospholipids: the engineers who design cell membranes.
Steroids and Cholesterol: much more than just a blood value; they are the precursors of hormones
that allow us to grow and react to stress.
Secret Roles: a journey through fat-soluble vitamins, protective waxes, and signaling molecules.
, © MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
Lipids, commonly called fats, are complex organic molecules insoluble in water, consisting of
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms that perform important functions:
-energy reserve
-structural role of cell membranes
-functional roles (hormones, vitamins)
They can be distinguished into complex lipids that contain fatty acids linked to other molecules
and simple lipids that lack them (e.g., cholesterol).
,© MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
, In this first part, we will talk about how lipids physically build the boundary between life and chaos.
What we will explore in this module:
The Power of Hydrophobicity: why lipids "flee" from water and how this physical rejection allowed
the birth of the first cells.
© MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
The Building Blocks: Fatty acids. We will discover the difference between saturated and unsaturated
(and why they determine if a fat is solid or liquid).
The Three Main Protagonists:
Triglycerides: the world champions of energy storage.
Phospholipids: the engineers who design cell membranes.
Steroids and Cholesterol: much more than just a blood value; they are the precursors of hormones
that allow us to grow and react to stress.
Secret Roles: a journey through fat-soluble vitamins, protective waxes, and signaling molecules.
, © MPI – Maria Paola Ippolito-All rights reserved
Lipids, commonly called fats, are complex organic molecules insoluble in water, consisting of
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms that perform important functions:
-energy reserve
-structural role of cell membranes
-functional roles (hormones, vitamins)
They can be distinguished into complex lipids that contain fatty acids linked to other molecules
and simple lipids that lack them (e.g., cholesterol).
