2026 iEnergy Frontier Forum on power and energy and editorial board meeting successfully convened in Hong Kong, China
Meeting Announcement
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Apr-2026 12:16 ET (8-Apr-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)
On January 21, 2026, the iEnergy Frontier Forum and Editorial Board Meeting was successfully held in Hong Kong. The event gathered over 50 global experts to discuss cutting-edge topics in energy, such as AI and sustainable materials, and charted the journal's future course toward becoming a leading international academic platform in the field of power and energy.
Outbreaks of avian flu at U.S. poultry farms led to more than $1.5 billion in losses over the last two years and drove egg prices to all-time highs in 2025.
A new program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is investing $100 million in projects aimed at combating highly pathogenic avian influenza. As part of this national effort, Binghamton University has been awarded $2.5 million to develop a next-generation avian flu vaccine designed to be easier to manufacture, store and transport than current options.
The key ingredient is yeast — something that most of us have in our kitchens and consume daily.
Professor Sha Jin, a faculty member at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, will spearhead the research project. Penn State University — which has the required biohazard containment facilities and testing facilities — will feed the altered yeast to chickens and then expose them to avian flu to evaluate immune protection.
The research team will bioengineer yeast cells to display the same hemagglutinin (HA) protein found on three H5N1 strains of the avian flu. When chickens ingest the yeast, it is expected to stimulate an immune response that prepares chickens to fight off future exposure to the live flu virus.
“We chose yeast because it’s edible and therefore safe,” Jin said. “In addition, yeast is already widely used in chickens because it can boost the health and immunity of the birds.”
In parts of Europe and Asia, chickens are inoculated with the inactivated flu viruses as part of their vaccination strategies. U.S. regulations do not allow that approach, because it is difficult to distinguish vaccinated birds from infected ones.
Using yeast also has other advantages: It is inexpensive to manufacture, shelf-stable at room temperature, does not require specialized equipment for administration and can be updated quickly when new viral strains emerge.
“For mRNA vaccines, refrigeration during transportation, handling and storage is essential to preserve biological activity,” Jin said. “Yeast can be handled and stored at room temperature, so it’s a lot easier for poultry farms to manage.”
The project is funded for three years, with the possibility of a one-year, no-cost extension if early results are promising and the team needs more time.
She emphasized the broader impact of the work: “A feedable yeast vaccine could prevent or halt avian influenza outbreaks, strengthen national food and biosecurity, reduce spillover risks to dairy cattle and humans, and ultimately save lives.”
About Binghamton University
Binghamton University, State University of New York, is the #1 public university in New York and a top-100 institution nationally. Founded in 1946, Binghamton combines a liberal arts foundation with professional and graduate programs, offering more than 130 academic undergraduate majors, minors, certificates, concentrations, emphases, tracks and specializations, plus more than 90 master's, 40 doctoral and 50 graduate certificate programs. The University is home to nearly 18,000 students and more than 150,000 alumni worldwide. Binghamton's commitment to academic excellence, innovative research, and student success has earned it recognition as a Public Ivy and one of the best values in American higher education.
Ultraviolet and near-infrared light are widely used in modern technologies but are invisible to the human eye. Researchers from Japan have developed an organic crystal that converts these invisible wavelengths into visible red and green light. Remarkably, the two colors arise from different physical processes coexisting within a single crystal. This dual-mode optical response provides a better understanding of molecular design and crystal packing, opening new possibilities for optical sensing and photonic technologies.
A recent study, led by the Center for Astrobiology (CAB), CSIC-INTA and using modelling techniques developed at the University of Oxford, has uncovered an unprecedented richness of small organic molecules in the deeply obscured nucleus of a nearby galaxy, thanks to observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The work, published in Nature Astronomy, provides new insights into how complex organic molecules and carbon are processed in some of the most extreme environments in the Universe.
MIT researchers built a complete model of pedestrian activity in New York City, the first such comprehensive effort for any U.S. city. The model could help planners decide where to invest in pedestrian infrastructure and public spaces, and illuminate how development decisions affect foot traffic.