This R13 proposal seeks support for Forsyth Symposium 2021 “Oral Microbiome: Beyond Bacteria” at the Forsyth Institute on October 28-29, 2021. The overall objective of the symposium is to promote better understanding of oral microbiome from a holistic perspective. Oral microbiome is composed of diverse bacterial species, fungal and viral (bacteriophage) components, as well as recently identified nano-sized parasitic Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) organisms. Effective management of oral microbiome-related diseases calls for a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of the oral microbiota on host health and disease, which requires a holistic view of intra- and cross-kingdom interactions among different members of the oral microbiome (including bacteria, fungi, phages and CPR organisms), as well as microbial-host interaction. The symposium will bring together a group of scientists with diverse research backgrounds in oral microbiome (including oral bacsteriome, mycobiome, phageome and CPR) and different career stages to share their research and ideas. The Symposium will include poster presentations by attendees and talks by: Ann Griffen, Matthew M. Ramsey, Hyun (Michel) Koo, Jill Banfield, Mircea Podar, Jeff McLean, Xuesong He, Kathryn Kauffman, David Moyes, Mahmoud Ghannoum, Patricia Diaz, Jessica Mark Welch, Yang-Yu Liu, and Anna Edlund. Another key objective is to identify biological questions and technical roadblocks that must be overcome to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of the oral microbiota on host health and disease from a holistic point of view. Meanwhile, the symposium will promote new collaborative researches which will expand from bacterial interspecies interactions to inter-kingdom interactions which include bacteria, CPR, fungi, and phages. It will also provide a great opportunity for trainees to interact with experts in the field and promote their research. More importantly, by encouraging female trainees and trainees with disabilities or of minority groups, the symposium aims to promote the engagement of underrepresented groups in dental research. The conference will create a community of investigators who have previously resided in scientific silos that did not meet or communicate with each other: oral bacteriome, mycobiome, phageome and CPR. These investigators will now communicate and hopefully develop collaborative research to achieve a fundamental understanding of oral microbiome from a holistic perspective, which will ultimately improve our ability to diagnose and treat microbial infections.

Our oral cavity harbors microorganisms with tremendous diversity which have significant impact on health and disease. The overall objective of the Forsyth Symposium 2021 on “Oral Microbiome: Beyond Bacteria” is to increase our understanding of these microorganisms as an ecological system. The symposium will promote collaborative research to achieve a fundamental understanding of oral microbiome from a holistic perspective, which will ultimately improve our ability to diagnose and treat oral microbial infections.