Research
Molecular and cellular and systems mechanisms of learning and memory
Appointments
- Distinguished Professor– Neurobiology, Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology
- Director–Integrative Center for Learning and Memory
- Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity
- Brain Research Institute
- Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology GPB Home Area
- Neuroscience GPB Home Area
Biography
The Silva laboratory is studying the biology of learning and memory. They are interested in the molecular, cellular and circuit processes that underlie the allocation, encoding and storage of information. To accomplish this they are using a variety of techniques including sophisticated molecular and genetic approaches, optical physiology, optogenetics, in vivo imaging and behavioral analysis.
Silva and colleagues have also studied the impact of these mechanisms in animal models of cognitive disorders, including intellectual disabilities. Based on these mechanistic studies, they have developed treatments for Neurofibromatosis type I and Tuberous Sclerosis, that are currently being tested in clinical trials.
The Silva laboratory is also developing bioinformatic strategies for tracking and planning experiments (researchmaps.org).
Publications
- Lopes, T, Silva, AP, Vicente, AA, Gonçalves, B. A comprehensive overview of strategies to improve blueberry fruit quality. Front Plant Sci. 2026;17 :1833867. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1833867. PubMed PMID:42199226 PubMed Central PMC13199053.
- Silva, AM, Sarioglou, K, Silva, S, Viegas, C, Ribeiro, E, Rebelo, MT et al.. Sand Quality on Portuguese Blue Flagged Beaches: Fungal and Faecal Contamination Across Two Bathing Seasons. Microorganisms. 2026;14 (5):. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms14051043. PubMed PMID:42197429 .
- Domínguez-Figueroa, J, Silva, AC, Abril-Urias, P, Müller, SY, Ladera-Carmona, MJ, Schäfer, P et al.. Integrative sRNA, DNA Methylation, and Transcriptomics Reveals Dynamic Epigenetic Reprogramming of Meloidogyne javanica-Induced Galls in Arabidopsis. Int J Mol Sci. 2026;27 (10):. doi: 10.3390/ijms27104365. PubMed PMID:42196344 .
- Silva, ARSD, Schwingel, D, de Aquino, SR, Brito, RJVC, Silva, MO, Fernandes, FECV et al.. Gender-Attributed Persona Prompts and the Diagnostic Accuracy of Proprietary and Open-Weight Large Language Models in Chagas Disease and Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Paired Experimental Study. Healthcare (Basel). 2026;14 (10):. doi: 10.3390/healthcare14101385. PubMed PMID:42194477 .
- Peña-Casanova, J, Diéguez-Vide, F, Jaén, M, Vinaixa, L, Cortaberría, J, Villaseñor, T et al.. Linguistic and cultural adaptation of the Barcelona-2 Test in 6 Latin American dialect variants. Neurologia (Engl Ed). 2026; :502037. doi: 10.1016/j.nrleng.2026.502037. PubMed PMID:42190800 .