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.