MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) Seminar Series

Title: Imaging genetics of the human face

Abstract: The human face is a biological billboard of our identity, displaying physical health, sex, environmental exposures, kinship, ancestry and genotype. Imaging genetics of the human face refers to the use of anatomical imaging technologies as phenotypic assays, for deep and longitudinal facial phenotyping, to evaluate underlying molecular factors of facial differences.  In a first part of this talk, I use spatially-dense 3D facial imaging in some general studies concerning the genetic architecture of the human face. Special attention is given to those that involved the use of ALSPAC data, including the use of a modular facial phenotyping that led to the discovery of many facially individualizing genetic loci. In a second part, I will yield the discoveries made into a new computational framework that is able to match given faces to probe DNA. This facilitates the ability to perform facial biometrics from DNA, which is illustrated using the traditional identification and verification analyses known in biometrics. Towards the future, this can generate innovative applications in forensics and biometrics, arming investigators with new and powerful tools to establish human identity from DNA.

Biography: 

In 2002, Peter Claes graduated at the KU Leuven, department of Electrical engineering (ESAT), with a major in multimedia and signal processing. In 2007, he obtained a PhD in engineering, specifically on medical image analysis, at the KU Leuven, where he developed a computer based craniofacial reconstruction system for victim identification. Satisfying his need to make a difference and understand more of the biology in clinical settings, he explicitly chose for a postdoc at the Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne from 2007 until 2011. This gave him the opportunity to interact deeply with other disciplinary researchers resulting in his transdisciplinary research portfolio with a versatile international network. Currently, he is an honorary fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia, and an associate professor in a joint interdisciplinary appointment on imaging genetics at the department of ESAT/PSI and the department of Human Genetics, KU Leuven.

All welcome