News & Events

Creating protection for an underserved population: children and adolescents (04 November 2024)

In the Fall of 2021, FaceBase launched a monthly series of “Office Hours” to support researchers and clinicians from the dental, oral and craniofacial (DOC) community - and beyond. These sessions are open to anyone seeking guidance on how to use FaceBase data or contribute to its expanding collection of multi-modal datasets. During our first Office Hours session, Christopher Nemeth, PhD, of Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) contacted us seeking available craniofacial data for children and adolescents.

Dr. Nemeth is the Principal Investigator on an effort funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to assess the feasibility of designing elastomeric, reusable respirators for children – a critical need that the COVID-19 pandemic made especially evident. While respirators are typically designed for adults. ARA sought to create respirator models that serve children. Dr. Nemeth met with Alejandro Bugacov, FaceBase’s “data guru”, to discuss relevant data resources that could help.

A few datasets immediately came to mind, including the 3D Facial Norms dataset from Seth Weinberg (University of Pittsburgh) and a dataset of facial scans from a Tanzanian cohort from Benedikt Hallgrimsson (University of Calgary). Bugacov facilitated a direct connection between Drs. Nemeth and Hallgrimsson to discuss a potential collaboration. Hallgrimsson was excited to participate in this project for many reasons:

1. This project was a great example of Precision Medicine and how multi-variations can be used to influence the design of respirators, which are greatly affected by facial sizes and shapes.

2. As a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research, he was keenly interested in projects that help underserved populations such as children.

3. This was a practical application of data that no one had considered before. His lab was excited about the prospect of directly helping people with their research!

Over a year of project work, Hallgrimsson’s lab developed a new approach for shape analysis to create the data that are essential for accurate, equitable designs for children age 2 –18. The team has now published its findings in Applied Ergonomics. The paper, Quantitative Analysis of Facial Shape in Children to Support Respirator Design, offers valuable recommendations for designing devices, including respirators, specifically tailored to fit the pediatric population. The hope is that their research will lay the groundwork for the first prototypes of a new generation of reusable respirators for children.

Citation:

Nemeth, C., Hoskens, H., Wilson, G., Jones, M., DiPietrantonio, J., Salami, B., Harnish, D., Claes, P., Weinberg, S. M., Shriver, M. D., & Hallgrímsson, B. (2025). Quantitative analysis of facial shape in children to support respirator design. Applied Ergonomics, 122, 104375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104375

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need for respiratory protection against airborne pathogens. Respirator options for children are limited, and existing designs do not consider differences in facial shape or size. We created a dataset of children’s facial images from three cohorts, then used geometric morphometric analyses of dense and sparse facial landmark representations to quantify age, sex and ancestry-related variation in shape. We found facial shape and size in children vary significantly with age from ages 2 to 18, particularly in dimensions relevant to respirator design. Sex differences are small throughout most of the age range of our sample. Ancestry is associated with significant facial shape variation in dimensions that may affect respirator fit. We offer guidance on how results can be used for the appropriate design of devices such as respirators for pediatric populations. We also highlight the need to consider ancestry-related variation in facial morphology to promote equitable, inclusive products.

Takeaways:

This collaboration highlights FaceBase’s versatility as a data-sharing platform. Even though our primary focus is to partner with the dental, oral and craniofacial (DOC) community, researchers from other domains can also benefit from this unique collection of high-quality, interoperable multi-modal data of the face and head.

Acknowledgement: The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) had no role in study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication. This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under Contract No. HHSO100201700032C

Save the Date: 2025 FaceBase Community Forum (08 October 2024)

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 FaceBase Community Forum will be held on June 3 and 4 at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) in Marina del Rey, CA. This day-and-a-half event will feature invited speakers, panels, and a poster session, offering a platform for the ddental, oral and craniofacial research community to collaborate and share their work.

Mark your calendar now! Bookmark this page for more details about the agenda and registration when they become available.

Upcoming NIH Data Reuse Seminar Featuring FaceBase - Aug 9, 2024 (05 August 2024)

Members of the FaceBase team will be presenting at an upcoming NIH Data Reuse Seminar Series. This virtual seminar, titled “Data Sharing and Reuse Seminar: August 2024,” will focus on the importance of data sharing and reuse in advancing scientific research.

Data Sharing and Reuse Seminar Details:

Date: August 9, 2024

Time: 12:00 pm Eastern / 9:00 am Pacific

Speakers: Drs. Rob Schuler (ISI USC) and Jifan Feng (CCMB USC)

Location: Virtual (via Zoom)

Registration Link: Visit the event page to register and receive the Zoom link

Drs. Robert Schuler, Ph.D. and Jifan Feng, Ph.D.

This seminar will be given in two parts:

Part 1: Introduction to FaceBase (Dr. Schuler) and Part 2: Examples of FaceBase Data Reuse in DOC Research (Dr. Feng).

We encourage all members of the FaceBase community to attend and participate in this informative session.

For more information about the seminar and speakers and the link to register, please visit the NIH Data Reuse Seminar Series webpage.

NIH Data Reuse Seminar Series Info

This entire series is open to the general public and it recurs every second Friday of each month. The presentations are also recorded and previous seminar talks are accessible via their website (https://datascience.nih.gov/nih-data-sharing-and-reuse-seminar-series).

We look forward to your participation!

FaceBase Virtual Bootcamp: Users and Data Submitters (01 July 2024)

FaceBase is hosting a virtual bootcamp tailored for both users and data contributors, whether you’re a seasoned user of FaceBase or looking to contribute data for the first time.

🗓 Date: Tuesday, August 27th

Highlights:

• Get a tour of the the updated website and documentation site.
• Discover new and updated features designed to enhance your data exploration experience.
• Become familiar with the data submission process.
• Learn how to fill out the updated Data Management Sharing (DMS) plans for sharing on FaceBase.
• Ask questions directly from FaceBase staff about data you’re looking for or data you want to contribute.

For more information, please view the event page:

• Users & Submitters Bootcamp - 08/27/2024

Inquiries: Please direct any questions to help@facebase.org.

Summary and Public Materials from the 2024 FaceBase Forum (18 June 2024)

The 2024 FaceBase Annual Community Forum, held on May 7 & 8 at the main NIH campus in Bethesda, MD, highlighted the strategic alignment between FaceBase and NIDCR data management and sharing strategies, celebrated significant achievements in data diversity, and outlined plans to facilitate the reuse of scientific data, including electronic health records (EHR). The Forum showcased impactful case studies on cleft lip/palate and craniosynostosis, emphasized ethical data sharing practices, and explored the benefits of data reuse and collaborations.

This gathering was a truly inspiring event that sparked ideas and dialogue and helped us learn more and more about this community we serve. Below are links to the publicly available slides and webcasts for the presentations, panels and posters. This year, we are also sharing a Summary Report that tells the story of this special event:

• Guide to Slides, Webcasts and Posters - FaceBase 2024 Community Forum (Public Edition)
• Bios of Presenters and Moderators
• Summary Report of the FaceBase 2024 Community Forum

Below is a list of the Poster Session presenters along with links to their posters and abstracts where available:

We thank all those who participated and made this event so special!