During Dr. da Silva's PhD, she focused on neural morphogenesis of sensory neurons and the development of neural circuits representing the touch-sensory system of mice. Afterward, she decided to concentrate on the neural visual system, the retina. She joined the laboratory of Dr. Connie Cepko at Harvard Medical School to study retina development, in particular the formation of a small, highly specialized area of the retina known as the fovea. The fovea is responsible for our central, colored, and sharp vision, and most of our daily tasks, like reading, driving, and recognizing faces, depend on this area. During her time at Harvard, she revealed the first-ever described molecular mechanism involved in early fovea development, which is conserved between chick and humans.
She then joined the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2019, where she is now a group leader.
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, Laboratory of Dr. Connie Cepko, Postdoctoral Fellow
- University of Coimbra, Portugal and Duke University, PhD
- University of Coimbra, Portugal, BS in Biochemistry
Education & Training
Deep learning based characterization of human organoids using optical coherence tomography. Wang B, Ganjee R, Khandaker I, Flohr K, He Y, Li G, Wesalo J, Sahel JA, da Silva S, Pi S. Biomed Opt Express. 2024 Apr 17;15(5):3112-3127. doi: 10.1364/BOE.515781. eCollection 2024 May 1. PMID: 38855657
Choriocapillaris: Fundamentals and advancements. Lejoyeux R, Benillouche J, Ong J, Errera MH, Rossi EA, Singh SR, Dansingani KK, da Silva S, Sinha D, Sahel JA, Freund KB, Sadda SR, Lutty GA, Chhablani J. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2022 Mar;87:100997. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2021.100997. Epub 2021 Jul 19. PMID: 34293477
Fgf8 Expression and Degradation of Retinoic Acid Are Required for Patterning a High-Acuity Area in the Retina. da Silva S, Cepko CL. Dev Cell. 2017 Jul 10;42(1):68-81.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2017.05.024. Epub 2017 Jun 22. PMID: 28648799
The research in Dr. da Silva’s laboratory is centered on a small highly specialized area of the retina named the fovea. The fovea is our high acuity area and is responsible for our ability to perform tasks such as reading, driving, and recognizing faces. This area is very distinct from the rest of the retina presenting unique and specialized cellular and functional properties. Trained as a neurodevelopmental biologist, Dr. da Silva is very interested in deciphering the molecular developmental mechanisms orchestrating the formation of such specialization in the retina. To achieve this, Dr. da Silva’s laboratory uses a multidisciplinary research program based on multiple model organisms, combining state-of-the-art genomic, molecular, and tissue culture techniques. The overarching goal of Dr. da Silva’s research is to advance the current understanding of basic genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying fovea development and subsequently establish new experimental models of human foveal diseases with wide applicability and therapeutic potential. Some of the specific goals of Dr. da Silva’s lab are:
- Elucidate genes and signaling pathways patterning the early high acuity area using chick retina as an attainable model system
- Comparative multispecies studies by gene expression analysis of the foveal genes and molecular pathways (evo-devo approach)
- Establish a new in vitro model system of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) derived 3D foveated retinal organoids
- Modeling of foveal disease conditions in 3D foveated retinal organoids