Lipid metabolism governs how the body stores, breaks down, and builds fats, membrane lipids, and hormone precursors, and this course covers each of those processes. You'll examine fat breakdown and synthesis, the beta oxidation of fatty acids and the energy it yields, the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, and how new fatty acids – including those longer than 16 carbons – are synthesized. The course then turns to membrane lipids, covering the synthesis of glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, before closing with steroid and bile acid metabolism: the mevalonate pathway, receptor-mediated endocytosis of LDL cholesterol, the classes of steroid hormones, and the structure and function of bile acids. Throughout, the course connects these pathways to clinically relevant outcomes, from energy metabolism to cholesterol handling.