Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce the upcoming topic issue of Health and Metabolism (HM), entitled Frontier Technologies, Molecular Mechanisms and Translational Applications of Virus-Regulated Host Metabolism. We sincerely invite you to submit original research articles, reviews, and perspectives to this topic issue.

Launched at the end of 2024, HM is a gold open-access, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly online by Scilight Press. The journal aims to establish a leading academic platform for groundbreaking research in the fields of health and metabolism, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, clinicians and public health practitioners. The journal publishes high-quality peer-reviewed manuscripts to unravel the intricate crosstalk between health and metabolism, and deliver innovative solutions to critical global health challenges. The journal’s broad scope covers molecular and cellular metabolic regulation, metabolic pathways, metabolomics, immunometabolism, pathogenesis of metabolic disorders, gut microbiome, nutritional interventions, multi-omics, structural biology, drug metabolism, exercise metabolism, aging metabolism and related interdisciplinary fields.

Viral infections pose a serious threat to human health. Metabolic reprogramming induced by viral infection may disrupt physiological homeostasis and contribute to the development or progression of chronic diseases. Outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging viruses may also cause profound metabolic disturbances, allowing localised infections to develop rapidly into major public health emergencies. Upon infection, viruses comprehensively reprogram cellular metabolic networks and hijack carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolic pathways to support their replication. Meanwhile, viral infection triggers inflammatory responses and reshapes immunometabolic homeostasis, further inducing multiple complications including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular damage and metabolic syndrome. This field builds an essential interdisciplinary bridge connecting virology and metabolic medicine. Aligned with the core aims and scope of HM, this topic issue focuses on cutting-edge discoveries covering the full spectrum of virus-host metabolic interactions, including innovative virological technologies, structural mechanisms underlying virus-induced metabolic disturbance, metabolism-targeted antiviral drug discovery, and translational multi-omics research.

Scope of Submissions (including but not limited to):

Molecular and cellular mechanisms of host metabolic reprogramming upon viral infection

Molecular mechanisms by which DNA/RNA viruses (respiratory viruses, hepatitis viruses, herpesviruses, retroviruses, emerging zoonotic viruses, etc.) remodel carbohydrate, lipid, amino acid and nucleotide metabolism; post-translational modification of metabolic enzymes mediated by viral proteins and non-coding RNAs; functional metabolic remodeling of organelles (mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, lipid droplets) during viral infection.

Structural biological basis of virus-host metabolic interactions

Three-dimensional structures of complexes formed by viral proteins and key metabolic enzymes, transporters or immune receptors; dynamic binding patterns between viral factors, metabolic small molecules and host metabolic regulators; structural insights into viral metabolic regulation resolved by cryo-EM, NMR and other high-resolution techniques.

Innovative omics and analytical technologies for virology-metabolism research

Applications of single-cell metabolomics, spatial metabolomics and metabolic flux analysis in viral infection models; integrated multi-omics (genomics, transcriptomics, lipidomics, immunomics) to decode viral metabolic perturbation; in vivo real-time metabolite detection, mass spectrometry informatics, AI-driven data mining for virological metabolic research; single-molecule and high-resolution dynamic imaging tracing virus-metabolite interactions.

Immunometabolism and inflammatory responses triggered by viral infection

Immunometabolic regulation underlying virus-induced inflammation and cytokine storm; metabolic reprogramming of macrophages, T cells and dendritic cells during antiviral immunity; long-term mechanisms linking inflammation to metabolic disorders (insulin resistance, adiposity, dyslipidemia); immunometabolic targets for inhibiting viral replication and post-infection metabolic complications.

Gut microbiome-mediated crosstalk between viruses and host metabolism

Regulation of viral susceptibility and replication efficiency by gut microbiota and microbial metabolites; systematic metabolic homeostasis altered by microbiome that determines viral infection prognosis; screening microbial biomarkers for early diagnosis of viral infection combined with metabolic diseases.

Pathogenesis, diagnosis and intervention strategies of virus-associated metabolic diseases

Mechanisms of chronic viral infection driving diabetes, fatty liver, cardiovascular diseases, cachexia and sarcopenia; epidemiology and public health strategies for prevention and management of virus-related metabolic syndrome; nutritional and exercise interventions to improve clinical outcomes of viral infection via metabolic modulation.

Metabolism-guided antiviral drug design and drug metabolism research

Development of broad-spectrum antiviral small molecules and peptides targeting host metabolic pathways; binding dynamics between drug compounds, metabolic enzymes and viral proteins; in vivo metabolic profiles, toxicology and long-term impacts of antiviral agents on human metabolic homeostasis; structure-based and mechanism-driven discovery of novel metabolism-targeted antiviral therapeutics.

Inter-organ metabolic communication during systemic viral infection

Tissue-specific metabolic signaling among liver, adipose tissue, muscle, brain and gut under viral infection; circulating metabolic factors regulating systemic antiviral immunity; how aging-related metabolic changes exacerbate the severity of viral diseases.

Innovative applications of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology in virology research and prevention

Metabolically engineered cell models for viral propagation and drug screening; synthetic biological reporter systems visualizing viral metabolic manipulation; engineered metabolic microbes for antiviral prophylaxis and therapy.

Authors may refer to the Instructions for Authors for detailed requirements on manuscript formatting, figure preparation and citation standards. All submissions will be subject to the journal’s standard editorial screening and peer-review process. Accepted articles will be published open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

We are convinced that with joint contributions from experts in virology, structural biology, metabolomics, pharmacy, immunology and public health, this topic issue will systematically showcase breakthroughs at the intersection of virology and host metabolism, expand the interdisciplinary research landscape of HM, and further strengthen the journal’s academic influence.

We sincerely appreciate your continuous support for HM, and we look forward to receiving your original research, comprehensive reviews and insightful perspective articles!

Submission Link: https://sciflux.org/authors/submissions
Submission Deadline: 31 July 2027

Academic Editors

Prof. Rui Gong
State Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.

Prof. Yixin Chen
School of Life Sciences, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.

Prof. Xiao Zhang
College of Pharmacy, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

All manuscripts will undergo peer review in accordance with the journal’s established policies and procedures. Decisions on publication will be based on the outcome of the peer-review process and the assessments of the Academic Editors and the Editor-in-Chief. The handling Academic Editor(s) and the Editor-in-Chief must have no conflicts of interest with any of the authors.