Prof. AI Qinghui, dean of the College of Fisheries at Ocean University of China, visited IHB on March 25, 2026. (Credit: IHB)

On the afternoon of March 25, 2026, Prof. AI Qinghui, dean of the College of Fisheries at Ocean University of China, and Prof. XUE Min from the Institute of Feed Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), were invited to the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They presented academic seminars to IHB researchers and graduate students, titled “Research Progress and Future Trends in Aquatic Animal Nutrition and Feed Development” and “Development and Application of Novel C1 Gas Protein Resources,” respectively.

During his presentation, Professor Ai began by sharing an old photograph that reflected his formative years as a student at IHB, proceeding to systematically review the evolution of aquatic animal nutrition and feed research. He then elaborated on core challenges facing the industry, major breakthroughs in theoretical research, and key technological advances, before offering his outlook on future directions in the field. Professor Ai also presented his team’s latest findings on lipid metabolism and nutritional immunology in fish, providing IHB researchers with cutting-edge academic perspectives.

Professor Xue delivered a specialized report on the frontier of C1 gas protein resources. She innovatively proposed integrating the nutritional properties of feed ingredients with their processing characteristics, and systematically introduced the application potential and technical bottlenecks of novel C1 gas proteins, including Clostridium autoethanogenum protein, Methylococcus capsulatus protein, hydrogen-oxidizing bacterial protein, and methanotrophic bacterial protein, in aquafeeds. Her work offers new strategies to alleviate the shortage of protein raw materials in aquaculture. She further analyzed the application evaluation and adaptive processing technologies for these novel proteins in aquatic animals, and shared her team’s latest advances in biosynthetic approaches such as Clostridium strain improvement.

Following the presentations, Professors Ai and Xue engaged in lively discussions and in-depth exchanges with IHB faculty and students on topics ranging from nutritional regulation mechanisms in aquaculture to the industrial application of novel protein resources.

Prof. AI Qinghui is dean of the College of Fisheries at Ocean University of China; a distinguished professor of the “Changjiang Scholars Program” of the Ministry of Education; a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars; a national high-level talent; and a “Young and Mid-Aged Scientific and Technological Innovation Leader” recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology. He primarily engages in research on fish lipid nutrition and immunometabolism. He has led projects including the National High-Tech R&D Program (863 Program), international cooperation projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and a Shandong Provincial joint fund project. He has published over 200 SCI papers and has been named an Elsevier Highly Cited Scholar for eight consecutive years (2017–2024). He has received the second prize of the National Award for Scientific and Technological Progress, the first prize of the Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award (Natural Sciences) from the Ministry of Education, the first prize of Shandong Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress, and the first prize of the Marine Science and Technology Award.

Prof. XUE Min is the PI of the Feed Processing Innovation Team at the Institute of Feed Research of CAAS, and a member of the International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF) Scientific Committee. She has pioneered the integration of nutritional and processing characteristics of feed ingredients, establishing an interdisciplinary group encompassing protein resource development, feed processing, and nutritional metabolic regulation. She holds international influence in feed precision processing, feed safety evaluation, and aquatic animal nutrition. She created the world’s only feed ingredient processing characteristic database, led the development of the “CAAS Longteng” intelligent feed formulation industrial software, and initiated a new era of information technology innovation in the feed industry. She has published over 200 academic papers and formulated nine national and industrial standards. Her awards include the second prize of the National Award for Scientific and Technological Progress, the first prize of the Shennong China Agricultural Science and Technology Award, and two first prizes of Hubei Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress Award.

Prof. XUE Min from the Institute of Feed Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), visited IHB on March 25, 2026. (Credit: IHB)