Announcements

MDPI is delighted to announce the establishment of the Michele Parrinello Award. Named in honor of Professor Michele Parrinello, the award celebrates his exceptional contributions and his profound impact on the field of computational physical science research.

The award will be presented biennially to distinguished scientists who have made outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of computational physical science—spanning physics, chemistry, and materials science.

About Professor Michele Parrinello

"Do not be afraid of new things. I see it many times when we discuss a new thing that young people are scared to go against the mainstream a little bit, thinking what is going to happen to me and so on. Be confident that what you do is meaningful, and do not be afraid, do not listen too much to what other people have to say.”

——Professor Michele Parrinello

Born in Messina in 1945, he received his degree from the University of Bologna and is currently affiliated with the Italian Institute of Technology. Professor Parrinello is known for his many technical innovations in the field of atomistic simulations and for a wealth of interdisciplinary applications ranging from materials science to chemistry and biology. Together with Roberto Car, he introduced ab initio molecular dynamics, also known as the Car–Parrinello method, marking the beginning of a new era both in the area of electronic structure calculations and in molecular dynamics simulations. He is also known for the Parrinello–Rahman method, which allows crystalline phase transitions to be studied by molecular dynamics. More recently, he has introduced metadynamics for the study of rare events and the calculation of free energies.

For his work, he has been awarded many prizes and honorary degrees. He is a member of numerous academies and learned societies, including the German Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the British Royal Society, and the Italian Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, which is the major academy in his home country of Italy.

Award Committee

The award committee will be chaired by Professor Xin-Gao Gong, a computational condensed matter physicist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and professor at the Department of Physics, Fudan University. Professor Xin-Gao Gong will lead a panel of several senior experts in the field to oversee the evaluation and selection process. The Institute for Computational Physical Sciences at Fudan University (Shanghai, China), led by Professor Xin-Gao Gong, will serve as the supporting institute for the award.

"We hope the Michele Parrinello Award will recognize scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of computational condensed matter physics and at the same time set a benchmark for the younger generation, providing clear direction for their pursuit—this is precisely the original intention behind establishing the award."

——Professor Xin-Gao Gong

The first edition of the award was officially launched on 1 November 2025. Nominations will be accepted before the end of March 2026. For further details, please visit mparrinelloaward.org.

About the MDPI Sustainability Foundation and MDPI Awards

The Michele Parrinello Award is part of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing sustainable development through scientific progress and global collaboration. The foundation also oversees the World Sustainability Award, the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, and the Tu Youyou Award. The establishment of the Michele Parrinello Award will further enrich the existing award portfolio, providing continued and diversified financial support to outstanding professionals across various fields. 

In addition to these foundation-level awards, MDPI journals also recognize outstanding contributions through a range of honors, including Best Paper Awards, Outstanding Reviewer Awards, Young Investigator Awards, Travel Awards, Best PhD Thesis Awards, Editor of Distinction Awards, and others. These initiatives aim to recognize excellence across disciplines and career stages, contributing to the long-term vitality and sustainability of scientific research.

Find more information on awards here.

At MDPI, we recognize that peer review is the foundation of scientific progress. The integrity, transparency, and quality of our journals depend on the careful evaluations provided by our reviewers. In 2024 alone, more than 215,000 reviewers contributed over 1.2 million reports to MDPI journals. This achievement reflects the strength of our community, and it is through the expertise and dedication of reviewers like you that scholarly communication continues to advance worldwide.

The MDPI Reviewer Club series was created to acknowledge this important role and to provide a vibrant forum for sharing experiences, exchanging best practices, and building meaningful connections across disciplines.

We are delighted to invite you to our upcoming webinar: “MDPI Reviewer Club Webinar 2026 |  Engineering Session 2”.

This session is designed as a dedicated space for reviewers in the Engineering discipline to connect, exchange insights, and celebrate the vital role they play in advancing scholarly publishing.

With the consent of our speakers, presentations will be recorded and shared on MDPI platforms, accompanied by introductions and discussion threads to continue the exchange long after the event.

If you are not yet part of our reviewer community, we warmly invite you to apply to join us as a reviewer. For further details about reviewing with MDPI, please also visit our page here, where you will find information on reviewer responsibilities, ethics, and the peer review process.

We warmly welcome you to join us for this inspiring exchange at the MDPI Reviewer Club 2026 | Engineering Session 2.

Keywords: peer review; reviewer guidelines; reviewer experience; ethics in peer review

Date: 5 February 2026 | 2:00 p.m. CET | 9:00 p.m. CST Asia | 7:00 a.m. EDT
Webinar ID: 814 6288 4944
Website: https://sciforum.net/event/MRC2026-ES2

Register now for free!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway, and we will let you know when the recording is available for viewing.

Webinar Speakers:

• Dr. Giacomo Peruzzi, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Italy;
• Dr. Georgi Gary Rozenman, Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

We have expanded our open access portfolio with eight new journals publishing their inaugural issues in December 2025, as well as three journal transfers. These additions span physical sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, environmental and Earth sciences, medicine and pharmacology, and public health and healthcare. We extend our sincere thanks to the Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board Members who are shaping these journals’ direction. All journals uphold strong editorial standards through a thorough peer review process, ensuring impactful open access scholarship.

Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. If you would like to create more new journals, you are welcome to send an application here, or contact the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com).

MDPI is excited to announce its participation as an exhibitor at the 2026 Society For Biomaterials Annual Meeting & Exposition (SFB 2026), taking place in Atlanta, USA, from 25 to 28 March 2026.

The Society For Biomaterials (SFB)’s Annual Meeting is the preeminent conference for biomaterials science. Each year, the Society provides a diverse program of sessions, panels, and workshops relating to special interest groups, specific topics, and important issues. The meeting is a welcoming community of academics, industry leaders, scientists, and students, networking and discussing the latest research and innovations in the field. The Annual Meeting provides an academic and social environment for connection and knowledge to be obtained by each individual.

The theme for the SFB 2026 Annual Meeting is Biomaterials at the Crossroads: Connecting Science, Industry, and Innovation. This is where the future of biomaterials unfolds!

The following MDPI journals will be presented at the conference:

• Bioengineering;
• Journal of Functional Biomaterials;
• Biomolecules;
• Journal of Pharmaceutical and BioTech Industry;
• Prosthesis;
• Materials;
• Future Pharmacology;
• Pharmaceutics;
• Biomedicines.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to contact us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person at booth #401 and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://meetings.biomaterials.org/.

International Universal Health Coverage Day, observed annually on 12 December, is a global response to the rallying cry: “Unaffordable health costs? We’re sick of it!” This day confronts the stark reality that millions are excluded from essential care due to financial barriers and mobilizes the world to transform health systems from privileges into universal rights.

Aligned with this year’s theme and Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being, MDPI underscores that research is not an academic exercise—it is a vital tool for diagnosing system failures and prescribing equitable solutions. From health economics studies that expose catastrophic spending, to innovations in low-cost diagnostics and community-based insurance models, researchers are providing the evidence and innovations to turn public frustration into actionable policy.

Join us in observing International Universal Health Coverage Day and supporting efforts to turn the promise of health for all into a tangible reality.

“Trends, Challenges, and Socioeconomic Impacts of HIV in Bangladesh: A Data-Driven Analysis (2000–2024)”
by Awnon Bhowmik, Mahmudul Hasan, Mrinal Saha and Goutam Saha
Sexes 2025, 6(3), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/sexes6030034

“Development and Metrological Characterization of Low-Cost Wearable Pulse Oximeter”
by Andrea Cataldo, Enrico Cataldo, Antonio Masciullo and Raissa Schiavoni
Bioengineering 2025, 12(3), 314; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering12030314

“Consequences of Hospital Closures for the Health Insurance Industry in the United States”
by Rainer W. G. Gruessner
Hospitals 2025, 2(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/hospitals2010002

“Enhancing Therapy Adherence: Impact on Clinical Outcomes, Healthcare Costs, and Patient Quality of Life”
by Urszula Religioni, Rocío Barrios-Rodríguez, Pilar Requena, Mariola Borowska and Janusz Ostrowski
Medicina 2025, 61(1), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina61010153

“Human Rights and Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups in Health and Well-Being Policy Documents Relevant to Children and Young People in Ireland”
by Megan Lambert and Joanne McVeigh
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21(9), 1252; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091252

“Multidimensional Impact of Dupilumab on Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps: A Complete Health Technology Assessment of Clinical, Economic, and Non-Clinical Domains”
by Ignazio La Mantia, Giancarlo Ottaviano, Martina Ragusa, Matteo Trimarchi, Emanuela Foglia, Fabrizio Schettini, Daniele Bellavia and Elena Cantone
J. Pers. Med. 2024, 14(4), 347; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm14040347

“Factors in Immigrant Children’s Use of Physician and Dentist Visits, Hospital Care, and Prescribed Medication in the United States”
by Tyrone C. Cheng and Celia C. Lo
Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2023, 13(10), 2251-2261; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe13100159

“Cost Analysis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Computed Tomography in Cardiology: A Case Study of a University Hospital Complex in the Euro Region”
by Francisco Reyes-Santias, Carlos García-García, Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán, Ana García-Campos, Octavio Cordova-Arevalo, Margarita Mendoza-Pintos, Sergio Cinza-Sanjurjo, Manuel Portela-Romero, Pilar Mazón-Ramos and Jose Ramon Gonzalez-Juanatey
Healthcare 2023, 11(14), 2084; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11142084

“Financial Toxicity and Out-of-Pocket Costs for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer”
by Justin Smith, Justin Yu, Louisa G. Gordon and Madhavi Chilkuri
Curr. Oncol. 2023, 30(5), 4922-4935; https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30050371

“Disentangling the Cost of Orphan Drugs Marketed in the United States”
by Hana Althobaiti, Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Lawrence M. Brown, Marc L. Fleming and Rosa Rodriguez-Monguio
Healthcare 2023, 11(4), 558; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11040558

“3D Printing in LMICs: Functional Design for Upper Limb Prosthetics in Uganda”
by Ali Hussaini, Peter Kyberd, Benedict Mulindwa, Robert Ssekitoleko, William Keeble, Laurence Kenney and David Howard
Prosthesis 2023, 5(1), 130-147; https://doi.org/10.3390/prosthesis5010011

The 1st International Online Conference on Clinical Reports Organizer: MDPI and Reports Volume Editor: Toshio Hattori Highlights Improving Bone Protection Provision for Patients with Fragility Fractures by Aaron Goldberg Leveraging Digital Health for Pandemic Response: Reliable Telemonitoring and Personalized Patient Care by Maria Montserrat Pérez García et al. Click here to read the full list of papers.

We are pleased to announce updates to our article template, aimed at improving the readability and visual appeal of our publications. The following updates will be applied to articles published in volumes in 2026, starting from 19 December 2025.

Left information bar:

• Updated the logo and URL for “Check for updates”;
• Removed the “Citation” section (Note: Citation details remain accessible via “Cite” in the online article version);
• Changed the link in “Copyright” to a hyperlink format.

Footer:

• Added a DOI link at the bottom-right corner of each page.

The updated template is now available for download from the Instructions for Authors page of each journal.

We hope that the new version of the template will provide users with better experience and make the process more convenient.

For any questions or suggestions, please contact our production team at production@mdpi.com.

The following is an interview with Dr. Kenneth Maiese:

1. Can you tell me about your background and what your research areas are?

I was born and raised in New Jersey, United States, and was fortunate to be the Valedictorian of my high school class at Pennsauken High School. I then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Summa Cum Laude with Distinction and was subsequently a Teagle Scholar, Grupe Scholar, and Joseph Collins Scholar at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Thereafter, I trained as a physician-scientist at Cornell, the National Institutes of Health, and as a senior executive in Executive Leadership and Business Administration at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Through my training, I have gained extensive experience in academic medicine, healthcare delivery, business development, managed care, biotechnology, and drug development holding positions as member and advisor for the National Institutes of Health Biotechnology and Venture Capital Development, National Institutes of Health Innovation Network, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Medical Officer, tenured Professor and Chairman and Physician-in-Chief of the Department of Neurology and Neurosciences of Rutgers University, Global Head of Translational Medicine and External Innovation, Board Member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Steering Committee Member for the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, tenured Professor in Neurology, Anatomy & Cell Biology, Molecular Medicine, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Health Center at Wayne State University, and Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of multiple highly successful international journals. I maintain clinical and scientific expertise in multiple medical disciplines, regulatory policy, and drug commercialization. My work has elucidated a number of new avenues for the fruitful discovery of innovative strategies to treat neurodegenerative disease, cardiovascular disorders, metabolic dysfunction, and cancer and has led to the development of first-in-class pharmaceuticals. As a result, I am grateful for the awards that I have received that include the Hoechst Award for exceptional basic science work, as well as being named a Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Investigator, chosen as a Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation Investigator, receiving the Albrecht Fleckenstein Memorial Award for Distinguished Achievement in Basic Research, elected to America's Top Physicians and The Best of U.S. Physicians, recipient of Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, elected as an America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Executive Leadership Fellow, recognized as an international highly impactful expert in cell death pathways and Alzheimer’s Disease, and my work has been recognized with the distinction of "High Impact Research and Potential Public Health Benefit" by the National Institutes of Health.

2. What made you decide to publish a Bioengineering article?
I decided to publish in Bioengineering because the journal has a broad scope for demonstrating new advancements in biology and medicine. The journal focuses on high-priority issues that involve biomolecular pathways, cellular, metabolic, and genetic pathways, nanotechnology, and translational engineering applications.

3. Was it important to you that the journal is open access?
Yes, having Bioengineering as an open access journal is extremely important. Open access publishing increases readership accessibility and advances the distribution of knowledge while developing current and future research collaborations.

4. What do you hope that readers will get from your paper?
I believe that the paper highlights a number of key concepts. It is important to realize that approximately three million individuals suffer from multiple sclerosis (MS) throughout the world. It is a severe demyelinating disease in the nervous system with increased prevalence over the last five decades, and only recently has MS also been recognized as a significant etiology of cognitive loss and dementia. Dementia has now become the 7th leading cause of death in the world. Loss of cognitive function in MS occurs in approximately sixty-five percent of individuals and can affect processing of information, attention, and memory recall in these patients, leading to severe disability.

5. What critical scientific or engineering problems did your research initially aim to address?
Multiple cellular mechanisms may lead to the onset and progression of MS, such as inflammatory mediators, demyelination and remyelination pathways, oxidative stress, blood–brain barrier impairment, viral antigens, and cellular metabolism dependent upon nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). Although disease-modifying therapy (DMT) can limit the rate of relapse in MS patients, it cannot prevent disease progression. In addition, early initiation of DMTs may slow the progression of brain volume loss, but cognitive disability may continue to progress. For these reasons, it is incumbent for us to develop new and innovative avenues for the investigation and treatment of MS. The paper brings to light a number of novel pathways that involve autophagy, apoptosis, mammalian forkhead transcription factors (FoxOs), the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK), the silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (SIRT1), and associated pathways with the apolipoprotein E (APOE-ε4) gene and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) to offer promise for the understanding and treatment of cognitive loss in MS.

6. Are there follow-up studies planned based on this paper’s findings?
Additional future investigations will be necessary to further understand the complexity of autophagy, apoptosis, FoxOs, mTOR, AMPK, SIRT1, APOE-ε4 gene, and SARS-CoV-2 pathways since they are intimately connected, can have complementary as well as inverse relationships, and can affect multiple biological pathways such as cerebral blood flow, inflammation, stem cell survival, and glucose homeostasis.

7. Why do you think this article has been highly cited?
I believe two factors may be important for the high interest in the paper. First, the developing clinical recognition that MS is not just a disease of the sensory and motor systems of the nervous system, but MS is also a severe disorder that progressively affects cognitive function, and this dementia ultimately leads to additional disability and eventual demise in these MS patients. Second, although multiple underlying cellular pathways may lead to the onset and progression of MS such as inflammatory pathways, it is also becoming evident that the complexity of the pathology can lead to MS and the requirement for the elucidation and understanding of critical novel pathways can play a role in understanding and treating demyelinating disease for the development of new DMTs.

8. How is AI reshaping bioengineering research in disruptive ways?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning models can be disruptive but offer the potential for highly positive results especially for the field of bioengineering. AI can be used to synthesize enormous data sets that can be heterogeneous in nature, such as involving genetic and proteomic data that involve multiple cellular pathways. Such large and diffuse data sets can present a challenge for traditional statistical methods, but AI and Machine Learning models can assimilate multiple pieces of multiparametric information that is nonhomogeneous to produce predicative signatures for underlying cellular pathways that in the long run can be translated into information that can be applied to the comprehension of clinical biology and treatments for patients.

We are pleased to announce that the 2^nd International Conference on Bioengineering (BIOENG 2026) is back and it will take place from 11 to 13 November 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.

This conference is organized by MDPI’s open access journal Bioengineering (ISSN: 2306-5354, Impact Factor 3.7). Following the success of IOCBE 2024, an earlier edition in this series, BIOENG 2026 aims to gather leading minds from around the world once more to discuss transformative advances in bioengineering at the intersection with AI.

Conference Chairman:

• Prof. Dr. Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, Texas A&M University, USA.

Session topics of interest:
S1. Regenerative engineering;
S2. Biochemical engineering;
S3. Biosignal processing;
S4. Biomedical engineering and biomaterials;
S5. Biomechanics and sports medicine.

Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: 7 July 2026;
Abstract notification of acceptance: 6 September 2026;
Deadline for Early Bird registration: 7 September 2026;
Deadline for covering author registration: 17 September 2026;
Deadline for registration: 4 November 2026.

Guide for authors:

To submit your abstract, please click on the following link: https://sciforum.net/user/submission/create/1424.

To register for the event, please visit the following website: https://sciforum.net/event/BIOENG2026?section=#registration.

For details regarding abstract submission, poster and slide submission, and publication opportunities, please refer to the “Instructions for Authors” section: https://sciforum.net/event/BIOENG2026?section=#instructions.

We welcome you to partake in this opportunity to contribute to and shape the AI-enabled evolution of bioengineering.

For any enquiries regarding this event, please contact bioeng2026@mdpi.com.

In support of World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week 2025, MDPI is delighted to invite you to our special webinar, “MDPI World AMR Awareness Week Webinar 2025”. This year’s theme, “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future”, serves as a powerful call to immediate action against one of the most pressing global health threats—antimicrobial resistance.

Through this webinar, we aim to highlight the latest research, innovations, and cross-sector collaborations addressing AMR. We hope these discussions will inspire collective action to promote the prudent use of antimicrobials, strengthen prevention and surveillance systems, and accelerate global efforts to safeguard human, animal, and environmental health.

Thank you for joining us as we raise awareness, exchange insights, and reaffirm our shared commitment to a healthier, more resilient future.

keywords: antimicrobial resistance; antifungal resistance; food chain contamination; biofilm infections; nanomedicine; microbial genetics; mycology; public health

Date: 21 November 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. CET | 4:00 p.m. CST (Asia)
Webinar ID: 883 6849 1341
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com

Register now for free!

Program:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway, and we will let you know when the recording is available for viewing.

Webinar Speakers:

• Dr. José Cobo-Díaz, Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, University of Leon, Spain;
• Dr. Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo, National Microbiology Center, Carlos III Health Institute, Spain;
• Dr.  Anam Ahsan, Clinical & Health Sciences / Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of South Australia, Australia;
• Prof. Dr. Michaela Lackner, Medical University of Innsbruck (MUI), Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology (HMM), Austria;
• Dr.  Elena Perrin, Department of Biology, University of Florence, Italy.