News & Events

New OCDM Version 1.7.0 Just Released (30 January 2017)

We are happy to announce the latest release of the OCDM, version 1.7.0. Click to download the archive file:

http://sig.biostr.washington.edu/share/downloads/ocdm/release/latest/ocdm.zip

The work for this release focused on homology mappings between human and mouse developmental and postnatal anatomical entities in Craniofacial Human Mouse Mouse Ontology (CHMMO). Mappings include developmental entities, from the zygote to perinatal structures at progressive stages of development, with emphasis on embryonic precursors of components of musculoskeletal system of the head (muscles, bones, cartilages, skeletal ligaments and joints).

Provisional mappings were initially carried out based on similar or same names and then verified by our domain expert. We likewise consulted the literature for homology evidence, either based on direct molecular studies or inferred vertebrate Bauplan. Bi-directional one to one and uni-directional one to null mappings at the gross anatomical level were recorded in this work.

Sign up for a FaceBase account with existing credentials (19 October 2016)

The FaceBase Hub is implementing the final update to the authentication system for the FaceBase Data Browser to give new users the option to sign up for a FaceBase account using an existing ID (i.e., campus, NIH or Google logins) instead of needing to create yet another new account.

Note that our account management system is based on Globus Auth . These changes will allow us to take advantage of more options that Globus provides for logging in to FaceBase.

On Wednesday, October 19th, we will deploy an update to the account management software. As a result, when signing up for a FaceBase account, new users will be able to select one of the many supported identity providers (from InCommon and Google). This will create an account request which will be forwarded to the FaceBase Hub for approval.

All current users will still be able to use your existing FaceBase account using the “GlobusID” option. You may also link your current GlobusID to another trusted ID.

If you have any questions or issues, please email help@facebase.org .

Website updates - New datasets and homepage (17 October 2016)

We have just published a major update to the FaceBase website - here’s an overview of what you will find.

New Data

We are pleased to offer the following new datasets from FaceBase2 projects:

• New zebrafish microCT images from the Anatomical atlas and transgenic toolkit for late skull formation in zebrafish project.

  Presented are developmental series of two different and commonly used strains for genetic analysis in zebrafish (AB and WIK). To facilitate skeletal imaging, the same samples were scanned using newly refined technique to provide selective contrast of forming skeletal elements by whole mount staining with silver nitrate (Charles et al, in review). Complementing these data, adult stages of zebrafish mutants are provided to allow broad analysis of gene function and formation of the adult skeletal form of the zebrafish skull. Mutants with identified mutations are provided.

• Mouse images from the Epigenetic landscapes and regulatory divergence of human craniofacial traits project.

  The data are selected images showing human and chimp gene enhancers on a mouse background. The images are of whole mount and histological samples showing the expression levels of enhancer activity as revealed by LacZ staining (blue) in the craniofacial region and other structures.

New homepage and Resources Hub

We’ve been listening to feedback and iterating on a new “face” for FaceBase. We’ve streamlined the information - making it cleaner and more focused on our important offerings.

The Craniofacial Resources Hub shows all of the information available from FaceBase and our collaborators. We’ll be keeping this page updated with the latest offerings. Check it out here: Resources Hub

Updated Mouse Anatomy and Skull Fly-through

Yang Chai’s lab at USC has updated the Mouse Anatomy page with color-coded drawings representing cell lineages through age stages E10.5 through P0 of a C57BL/6 mouse embryo.

We have also posted a link to their 3D Mouse Skull Flythrough video that takes you on a journey through all parts of a mouse skull.

Updated authentication system

We are rolling out an update to our authentication system on Oct 19th - based on Globus Auth - that will allow new (and existing) users the ability to sign up for a FaceBase account using an existing trusted login (i.e., campus, NIH, Google).

Cleaning and curation of the backend

The Hub has been making many changes under-the-hood to curate the data.

If you have any questions or issues, please email help@facebase.org.

Weinberg and his group publish PLOS Genetics paper (28 September 2016)

Dr. Seth Weinberg, who co-helmed the 3D Facial Norms Database project from the first phase of FaceBase, has co-authored a paper identifying specific gene variations for healthy human facial characteristics.

In Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Multiple Loci Influencing Normal Human Facial Morphology, published on Aug. 25 in PLOS Genetics, genome-wide association meta-analyses were conducted of 20 quantitative facial measurements derived from the 3D surface images of 3118 healthy individuals of European ancestry. Analyses were performed on just under one million genotyped SNPs.

“Our analysis identified several genetic associations with facial features not previously described in earlier genome-wide studies. What is exciting is that many of these associations involve chromosomal regions harboring genes with known craniofacial function. Such findings can provide insights into the role genes play in the formation of the face and improve our understanding of the causal factors leading to certain craniofacial birth defects.” – Dr. Seth Weinberg.

You can find the publication at PLOS Genetics.

Presentations from the 2016 FaceBase Annual Meeting in Denver (18 May 2016)

Our thanks go out to Trevor Williams and all of the people at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus for being wonderful hosts for the FaceBase Annual Meeting on May 2nd and 3rd. Our first day was again open to the public and attended onsite by many local students while over 40 people attended via webcast. We thank you all for joining us.

For those who weren’t able to make it, we’ve posted presentations and videos from May 2nd that have been approved for public viewing.

• Slides from that day are available on our Presentations page here.

• View videos of the presentations on our YouTube playlist.

The next Annual Meeting will be in Boston on April 24-25. To keep informed, please consider signing our mailing list here.