Announcements

MDPI will be attending the international conference “ncRNA2026: From Molecular Mechanisms to Clinical Impact” in Leuven, Belgium, which will take place from 24 to 26 June 2026. In recent years, non-coding RNA studies have revolutionized our understanding of gene regulation, cellular networks, and disease mechanisms. ncRNA2026 will showcase the latest breakthroughs in ncRNA biology and technology through a program dedicated entirely to this field—from molecular mechanisms and clinical applications to data science and translational insights. The conference will feature distinguished international invited speakers, complemented by a strong selection of oral and poster presentations from submitted abstracts.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Non-Coding RNA;
• Applied Biosciences;
• BioMed;
• BioMedInformatics;
• Biomolecules;
• Cells;
• Current Issues in Molecular Biology (CIMB);
• Current Oncology;
• Diagnostics;
• Epigenomes;
• International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS);
• Targets.

If you are attending the conference, please feel free to visit our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://sciforum.net/event/ncRNA2026.

In order to specifically develop different research areas and attract more high-quality papers, under the guidance of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Andreas Kjaer, Diagnostics (ISSN: 2075-4418) has established a new Section “Forensic Diagnostics”.

A message from the Editor-in-Chief:

It is with pleasure that we announce the launch of a new Section of Diagnostics, named “Forensic Diagnostics”. This Section will focus on manuscripts covering the following topics: post-mortem imaging and virtopsy; forensic pathology and chemical analysis; molecular diagnostics for identification and kinship analysis; diagnostic techniques for trauma and injury assessment; and advances in analytical technologies applied to forensic science. All submissions to this Section must align with the overall scope of Diagnostics.
We hope that the “Forensic Diagnostics” Section will attract high-quality manuscripts within this specialized field and provide clearer guidance for authors regarding the appropriate placement of their work. The editors and the editorial office will, as always, assist in allocating manuscripts to the Section that best suits their subject matter.
We warmly welcome researchers working in forensic diagnostics to submit their work to this new Section. In addition, we invite interested scholars to contribute to the development of this Section by proposing Special Issues or expressing interest in joining the Editorial Board. We look forward to your valuable contributions in making “Forensic Diagnostics” a vibrant and impactful platform within the journal.

If you would like to help build a platform to provide your scientific community with the opportunity to collaborate on an interconnected set of papers on an innovative topic(s), please feel free to contact the Diagnostics Editorial Office.

Conference: 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI)
Date: 3–5 June 2026
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

MDPI will participate as an exhibitor at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation. We welcome researchers and professionals to visit our booth and engage with our team.

The 60th Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) will be held from 3 to 5 June 2026. It can bring together 500–600 scientists, medical professionals, and innovation leaders from across Europe and beyond to explore the theme “Research in Action: Building Healthier Futures”. The scientific program will feature a rich blend of disciplines—spanning cardiovascular science, endocrinology, obesity, metabolism and MASLD, mitochondrial biology, oncology and immunology, rheumatology, and neurosciences. This year, we will shine a spotlight on life transitions in women, unravelling health and disease journeys from pregnancy to menopause. The program will also highlight today’s most transformative biomedical breakthroughs, from AI-enabled diagnostics to gene editing and precision therapies.

The following open access journals will be represented:

• Reports;
• Medicina;
• Diagnostics;
• JPM;
• BioMed;
• Complications;
• Pharmacy;
• NeuroSci;
• JCRM;
• Current Oncology;
• JCM;
• Physiologia;
• Proteomes;
• Diseases.

If you are planning to attend the above event, please feel free to start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information, please visit https://barcelo.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/esci-2026/web.

We are honored to announce that Prof. Dr. William Gerwick will serve as the Chair of the 2026 Tu Youyou Award Committee.

A world-renowned authority in marine natural products chemistry and pharmacology, Professor Gerwick is a Distinguished Professor at both the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His pioneering work at the intersection of ocean sciences and drug discovery makes him a fitting leader for an award centered on transformative medicinal breakthroughs.

Under Professor Gerwick’s stewardship, the 2026 Tu Youyou Award Committee will focus on recognizing innovative and impactful research in natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry, particularly work with the potential to drive meaningful advances in both scientific understanding and human health.

To provide further insight into his perspectives, we include below an interview with Professor Gerwick, in which he reflects on his scientific journey, his views on the field, and his vision for the Tu Youyou Award.

A Conversation with the Chair

1. Could you please introduce yourself and your research journey?

My research focuses on the natural products of marine algae and cyanobacteria, their application in medicine, their biosynthesis using genomic approaches, and innovative methods in the structure elucidation of natural products.

I received my BS degree from the University of California at Davis, my PhD from the University of California at San Diego, and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of Connecticut. After a couple of years in a junior faculty position at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico, I spent 21 years as Professor of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. In 2005, I returned to my PhD institution at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego, where I am currently a Distinguished Professor of Oceanography and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Throughout my career, I have been dedicated to advancing the field through both leadership and mentorship. I have served as president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, chaired and co-chaired several major research conferences, and served as an associate editor for the Journal of Natural Products. I am a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and of the American Society of Pharmacognosy. I have trained over 100 doctoral and postdoctoral students, and my research group has published nearly 500 papers and more than 25 patents on topics in the natural product sciences and medicinal chemistry.

2. What motivated you to accept the role of Chair of the 2026 Tu Youyou Award Committee?

Of course, I am a huge supporter of all awards that are given in recognition of excellent scientific research, and especially so in the natural products sciences and medicinal chemistry. However, this award is truly special in that it recognizes scientific excellence as well as impact, and is given in the name of an individual, Tu Youyou, who clearly had many challenges along the path to reach the pinnacle of her success. Not only was she the first Chinese person to win a Nobel prize in this area, but she was also the first Chinese woman to receive a Nobel prize, and this was achieved without graduate education in China or elsewhere. It’s a true testament to what can be achieved by hard work, determination, and vision. To read the history of her extraordinary approach to discovering novel antimalarial compounds from Traditional Chinese Medicine is truly inspirational. It is, therefore, the inspiration provided by the extraordinary life and career of Tu Youyou that motivated me to accept the Chair of the Award Committee for 2026.

3. How do you view the role of natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry in today’s scientific landscape, and what major advances over the past decade have shaped this field?

A quite remarkable integration of fields is currently transforming natural products science and medicinal chemistry. In natural products, we are seeing integration of different omics methods, from metabolites to proteins to nucleic acids. Sophisticated biological and pharmacological approaches are driving the discovery of exquisitely potent and selective natural products. Advances are being made to integrate molecular-level recognition of natural products with chemical ecological studies, and sophisticated methods of structure determination using Artificial Intelligence or pioneering new tools such as microED are being applied with increasing frequency. High-level synthetic methodologies, such as protecting group-free synthetic routes, are enhancing medicinal chemistry, accelerating the identification of lead molecules with attractive pharmaceutical properties at an increasing pace.

4. How do you consider the balance between fundamental discovery (e.g., new molecules or mechanisms) and practical impact (e.g., therapeutic applications)?

Many individuals are excellent scientists and mentors, and have essential roles in developing our culture that values science and the scientific method. It should also be pointed out that not all scientific discoveries are going to have a broad societal impact, but they are nevertheless critical to the overall body and structure of science. But it is a truly remarkable individual who makes a key scientific discovery, recognizes its potential value to society in general, and then has the skills and determination to bring it forward as a useful product. That was the type of person the Tu Youyou is, and that is the type of person who is honored by the prize in her name.

5. What do you see as the key challenges or opportunities currently facing the field?

We are on the crux of an amazing revolution in many of the sciences, including natural products and medicinal chemistry; the purposeful application of Artificial Intelligence to solving many of the difficulties involved in the search for new pharmaceuticals from Nature. AI is transforming how we select organisms for study, what pharmaceutical targets to go after, rapidly resolving the chemical structures of new compounds, identifying efficient routes to their chemical synthesis, understanding their molecular mechanisms of action, and finally, designing their clinical application. The role of people in these pursuits is changing. Increasingly, the human role will be providing overall vision: what can we do? What should we do? And it is important to remember that AI is providing hypotheses, not truth. Scientists with expert domain knowledge will be critical for discerning the correctness of hypotheses put forth by AI. Altogether, advances in technology, expanding knowledge, and the appropriate use of AI methods are preparing society to be able to address emerging diseases, such as pandemics, as well as conditions that are not effectively treated by currently existing therapeutics.

6. How do you expect the Tu Youyou Award to contribute to the advancement of natural product chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and human health over the coming years?

The Tu Youyou Award is potentially transformative for the broad fields of natural products science and medicinal chemistry as it brings a significantly increased level of visibility to these topics and their contributions to human health. It will be crucial to have excellent communication to news agencies, social media and other communication outlets so that the general public is informed and educated on the high impact of these natural product/medicinal chemistry contributions. This will bring increased funding, attract promising students, and generally enrich the interface of these fields with the health sector.

7. What message would you like to convey to the research community and the public during this open nomination phase?

This prize gives broad societal visibility to the role that natural products have had in shaping a majority of our current medicines, as well as understanding the life forms with whom we share the planet. Further, it recognizes a woman scientist working under sub-optimal conditions who could persevere and make discoveries of global impact. The prize and what it represents, therefore, inspires current and future generations to engage in the study of Nature and its relationship to Human Health, to overcome adversity, and to aspire to making one’s life impactful.

About the Tu Youyou Award

Established in 2016, the Tu Youyou Award seeks to honor those who excel in the fields of natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry. This award offers a total prize of CHF 100,000, which will be equally divided among the winners if there is more than one, with each recipient receiving an award medal and a certificate.

The 2026 Tu Youyou Award is open for nominations until 31 October 2026. We encourage all eligible candidates to participate in this prestigious recognition, as this award not only honors individual achievement but also encourages further scientific exchange, exploration and discovery in critical areas of medicine.

If you are interested in participating, please visit the Tu Youyou Award website for more information on the nomination requirements.

Conference: The 2026 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research
Date: 8–11 June 2026
Location: Budapest, Hungary

We are pleased to announce that MDPI will participate in the 2026 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR 2026), held in Budapest, Hungary, from 8 to 11 June 2026.

The 2026 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR 2026) is a four-day congress dedicated to basic, preclinical and translational cancer research across a wide range of topics. The conference will highlight the latest research and bring together the cancer research community to inspire innovation and build knowledge, connections and collaborations.

The following MDPI journals will be represented at the conference:

• Cancers;
• JPM;
• Current Oncology;
• Onco;
• JCM;
• Cells;
• Diseases;
• Epigenomes;
• CIMB;
• Biologics;
• Life;
• Gastrointestinal Disorders;
• Clinics and Practice;
• DNA;
• IJMS;
• Diagnostics.

If you are planning to attend the above conference, please feel free to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person at booth #101 and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://2026.eacr.org/.

MDPI will be attending the 15th International Symposium on Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance (ISAAR 2026), which will be held on Hong Kong, China, from 12 to 14 June 2026.

The conference addresses the pressing theme of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)—a challenge that transcends borders and demands collective expertise and commitment. ISAAR 2026 will provide an ideal platform that attracts researchers and experts in the field of infectious disease, microbiology, public health, pharmaceuticals and biomedical sciences to foster collaboration, share innovative research ideas and findings, advance our understanding of infectious diseases, and explore effective strategies to combat AMR. ISAAR 2026 looks forward to the participation of all attendees and is excited to share innovations, insights, and best practices.

The topics addressed by this conference are as follows:

• Antimicrobial Agents and PK/PD;
• Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals;
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Program;
• Bacteriology;
• Clinical Case Report;
• COVID-19;
• Diagnostics in Microbiology;
• Fungal Infection and Medical Mycology;
• Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention/Control;
• HIV;
• Microbiome;
• Resistance In Gram-Negative Bacteria;
• Resistance In Gram-Positive Bacteria;
• Tuberculosis and other Mycobacterial Infections;
• Vaccines;
• Viral Infection (All Viruses other than HIV And SARS-Cov-2);
• Others.

The following open access journals will be represented at the conference:

• Antibiotics;
• Microbiology Research;
• Diagnostics;
• Immuno;
• Bacteria;
• Pharmaceuticals;
• Hygiene;
• Medicines;
• JMAHP.

We invite you to visit MDPI’s booth (#C01) to meet our representatives, explore our latest initiatives, and discuss potential collaborations. For more details about the conference, please visit the official website: https://www.isaar2026.org/.

We look forward to connecting with you in Hong Kong!

Conference: 2026 China Biomedical Engineering Conference & Medical Innovation Summit (BME)
Date: 29–31 May 2026
Location: Suzhou, China

MDPI will be attending the 2026 China Biomedical Engineering Conference & Medical Innovation Summit (BME) as an exhibitor. This meeting will be held in Suzhou, China from 29 to 31 May 2026.

The conference, hosted by the Chinese Society for Biomedical Engineering, will be held in Suzhou from May 29 to 31, 2026. Adhering to the theme of “Integrated Development of Medicine and Engineering, Innovation Leading the Future”, the conference focuses on key areas and technologies in biomedical engineering, with the mission of promoting the self-reliance and strength of domestically produced medical devices. It highlights the core value of medical engineering integration for health maintenance and treatment advancements, and facilitates the deep integration of disciplines and industries.

The following open access journals will be represented:

• Bioengineering;
• Gastrointestinal Disorders;
• Diagnostics;
• Acoustics;
• Journal of Imaging.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person at booth #9 and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://bme2026.sciconf.cn/.

Our portfolio of journals available for publishing up-to-date research in immediate open access format has been further expanded. In the first quarter of 2026, nine new journals released their inaugural issues and three transferred journals released their first issue as part of MDPI, covering the subjects of clinical medicine, chemistry, computer science & mathematics, engineering, environment & ecology, and social sciences & psychology.

We extend our gratitude to the Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board Members who will shape the future course of these brand-new journals. Each journal is dedicated to upholding 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 a new journal, you are welcome to send an application here or contact the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com).

We are delighted to announce that nominations are now open for the 2026 Tu Youyou Award. Named after Nobel Laureate Tu Youyou, whose discovery of artemisinin has saved millions of lives, this award recognizes researchers whose work advances the fields of natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry, while also contributing to human health.

Prize

– CHF 100,000;
– A medal;
– A certificate.

The monetary prize will be shared equally should there be multiple recipients.

Who May Be Nominated?

– Scientists with outstanding achievements and contributions in the fields of natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry.

Nominees must be individuals; team or group nominations are not permitted. Nominations are valid only for the current award cycle.

Who May Submit a Nomination?

– The director of the nominee’s host research institution or recognized scientists within the field.

Self-nominations will not be considered.

Nomination Materials

– A biographical sketch;
– A detailed description of the nominee’s contributions;
– 5–10 representative academic publications;
– A list of academic honors, awards, and funded projects;
– A nomination letter signed by two nominators.

How to Submit?

Submit nominations online via the following link: https://tuyouyouprize.org/nomination

Important Dates

– Nomination Deadline: 31 October 2026
– Winner Announcement: March 2027

For further information, please visit the Tu Youyou Award website (https://tuyouyouprize.org/). For any inquiries, please contact the Tu Youyou Award Team at tuyouyouaward@mdpi.com.