FaceBase 2025 Community Forum in Marina del Rey

The 2025 FaceBase Community Forum was held on June 3 & 4 at the Information Sciences Institute in Marina del Rey, CA, demonstrated the newly emerging capabilities of FaceBase to support not only dental, oral and craniofacial (DOC) research and studies across the translational spectrum, but also in related health domains and systems. We introduced new collaborations with the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD), explored integrating clinical elements into FaceBase with the description of an upcoming pilot, introduced the cutting edge technology of Dynamic MRI, while still discovering advances in basic DOC research. FaceBase also announced their exciting roadmap for the next four years.

Thank you for everyone who participated at this year’s Community Forum! Here are the meeting materials that have been made available to the public:

• Bios of Speakers and Panelists

Slides and Webcasts from Presentations and Panels

Poster Session Presenters

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

Program Description

Join us for the FaceBase 2025 Community Forum on June 3 and 4 at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) in Marina del Rey, CA.

(Fun fact: ISI is actually the headquarters for the FaceBase technical team!)

This year’s theme is Enabling and Expanding the Reach of Craniofacial Research: Building Connections and Supporting Reuse.

You can find final agenda here.

Day 1 – Tuesday, June 3 (PDT)

• Morning:
  • Check-in
  • Introduction by Yang Chai, D.D.S., Ph.D. (USC)
  • Opening Remarks by Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, D.D.S., Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR/NIH); Debara L. Tucci, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., Director, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD/NIH); and Susan Gregurick, Ph.D., Associate Director for Data Science and Director of the the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS/NIH)
• Mid-Morning Sessions:
  • FaceBase 4 Roadmap Overview featuring talks by Carl Kesselman, Ph.D. and Rob Schuler, Ph.D. (ISI)
  • Keynote Address on “The Need for High Quality Data for Data Reuse and Machine Learning” by Helen M. Berman, Ph.D. (USC)
• Late Morning – Early Afternoon:
  • Scientific Talks on Studies Comparing Normal and Abnormal Craniofacial Development with Justin Cotney, Ph.D. (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) and Samantha Brugmann, Ph.D. (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital)
  • Grab lunch in one of the many nearby restaurants (information will be provided)
• Afternoon:
  • Panel Discussion on Incorporating Relevant Clinical Elements (EMR/EDR, etc) into FaceBase to Effectively Facilitate Clinical Research, chaired by Parish Sedghizadeh, D.D.S, M.S. (Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry/USC)
  • Scientific Talks on Connecting Clinical Tools and Data to Advance Craniofacial Pain Research – Integrating Imaging, AI, and Multimodal Data to Drive Discovery with Thomas Peterson, Ph.D. (UCSF); Glenn Clark, D.D.S., M.S., Anette Vistoso Monreal, D.D.S., M.S and Krishna S. Nayak, Ph.D. (USC).
  • Poster Session
• Evening:
  • Day’s Adjournment
  • Group Dinner at Playa Provisions

Day 2 – Wednesday, June 4 (PDT)

• Morning:
  • Recap of Day 1 by Yang Chai, D.D.S., Ph.D. (USC)
  • Keynote talk on a “Vision for Data Science: Advancing Craniofacial Research Through Integration, Accessibility, and Innovation” by Axel Visel, Ph.D (Lawrence Berkeley Lab).
• Mid-Morning Sessions:
  • Scientific Talks showcasing innovative reuse of FaceBase data in areas like pediatric respirator design and AI/ML applications with Christopher Nemeth, Ph.D. (Applied Research Associates, Inc), Benedikt Hallgrímsson (Univ of Calgary) and Peter Claes, Ph.D. (KU Leuven, Belgium).
• Late Morning – Early Afternoon:
  • Scientific Talk demonstrating FaceBase relevance for research outside of DOC - in this case macroglossia - with Jennifer Kalish, MD, PhD (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia).
  • Panel Discussion on leveraging FaceBase in Related Health Domains: Yang Chai, Benjamin Yixing Xu (USC), Jennifer Kalish, Axel Visel. Moderated by Helen Berman.
  • Meeting is adjourned - with a subsequent internal meeting for FaceBase, advisors and NIH staff.

Call for Posters (Due date has passed)

There will be in-person poster presentations this year. Use the registration form now to indicate you want to present a poster.

Submission abstracts are due by May 16.

Topics for posters:

• We encourage submissions of clinical/translational cases, ML/AI and training scenarios as well as basic science that indicate scientific progress or accomplishments that advance FaceBase aims.
• Demonstration of how FaceBase data is used or reused for new scientific insights.
• Posters should include data/research that has been or will be submitted to FaceBase.

You can find full poster information on this page.

Event Logistics

Dates:

• Starts: Tuesday, June 3rd at 9:00 am Pacific
• Ends: Wednesday, June 4th at 12:00 pm Pacific (with boxed lunch available afterwards for further networking)

Location: Marina del Rey, CA

Venue:

Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Room 1014, 10th floor
https://www.isi.edu

Click the image to view a map of the meeting area:

Travel Information

Please visit our Travel page for information on the venue, location and local hotels. <!–

Registration

Register now!

Mark your calendars, spread the word, and get ready for an outstanding event! –>