Carla Silva

Carla Silva has a graduation in Thanatological, Cytological and Pathological Anatomy, a Master in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine and a PhD in Pharmacy, Microbiology.

The scientific activity developed in the past decade allowed the characterization of two unusual phylogenetic clades associated with primary multidrug and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, resulting in a deeper understanding on the epidemiological and transmission dynamics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis multidrug resistant strains in Portugal. C. Silva has contributed to the first morphologic and the physiologic study of such M. tuberculosis clades, unmasking mycobacterial features with important rules within host infection and transmission dynamics. Moreover, C. Silva has also helped to develop the first tool aimed at providing an unprecedent resolution to track strains across the Lusophone space (CPLP-TB) already available at http://cplp-tb.ff.ulisboa.pt. The latter is also the result of a vast network of collaborations spanning across five Portuguese-speaking countries.

From February 2018 to August 2019, C. Silva has developed activities as scientific and medical Medical writer in the Portuguese editorial magazine News Farma, specialized in health communications. C. Silva has produced several articles and brochures regarding different medical specialties; she had covered national and international scientific meetings and interviews with experts. She had also coordinated a special edition of Médico News magazine.

In the last years, she gains new interest about other emergent diseases and other pathogens of Public Health concern, such as Gram-negative bacteria. In October 2019, C. Silva joined the Unit of Medical Microbiology, IHMT/UNL, as a researcher developing studies focused on the applicability of efflux inhibitors, as innovative and safer adjuvant alternatives to the treatment of MDR/XDR-TB and drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria, e.g. E. coli, Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Due to her experience in science communication, C. Silva was invited to collaborate with the IHMT Communication Office in November 2019.

Carla Silva is author/co-author of 13 scientific articles in peer-reviewed international journals with three additional articles under preparation for submission. C. Silva has over 30 communications in scientific meetings, with a Scopus h-index of 6.

C. Silva’s research interests ranges from molecular epidemiology, development of new drugs, antimicrobial drug resistance and mechanisms of pathogenicity of M. tuberculosis and Gram-negatives of human and animal interest. Currently, she is involved in an FCT funded project (PTDC/BIA-MIC/30692/2017) at IHMT/NOVA, where she is studying antimicrobial drug resistance mechanisms for the development of new drugs against M. tuberculosis and Gram-negative bacteria.

Team: Miguel Viveiros, Diana Machado, Jorge Ramos, Carla Silva, Bruna Pereira, Isabel Roseiro, Sarah Gothe, Inês Maia

1. Perdigão J, Silva C, Diniz J, Pereira C, Machado D, Ramos J, Silva F, Brum C, Reis AJ, Macedo M, Scaini JL, Silva AB, Esteves L, Macedo R, Maltez F, Clemente S, Coelho E, Viegas S, Rabna P, Rodrigues A, Taveira N, Jordão L, Kritski A, Lapa e Silva J, Mokrousov I, Couvin D, Rastogi N, Couto I, Pain A, McNerney R, Clark TG, von Groll A, Dalla-Costa ER, Rossetti ML, Silva PEA, Viveiros M, Portugal I. (2019). Clonal expansion across the seas and CPLP-TB: A Joint Effort in Cataloguing Mycobacterium tuberculosis Genetic Diversity in the Lusophone Space. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, Infect Genet Evol 2019. 72:44-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2018.03.011
2. Silva C, Perdigão J, Jordão L, Portugal I. (2014). Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit typing and mutational profile for multidrug and extensive drug resistant tuberculosis surveillance in Portugal: a three-year period overview. Int J Antimicrob Agents.  44(6): 546-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2014.06.021
3. Silva C, Alverca E, Matos AP, Carvalho PA, Portugal I, Jordão L. (2013). “Morphologic characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis circulating strains in a Lisbon hospital”. Microsc Microanal 19 (Supplement S4 – SPMicros): 11-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927613000676
4. Silva C, Perdigão J, Alverca E, Matos AP, Carvalho P, Portugal I, Jordão L. (2013). Exploring the contribution of mycobacteria characteristics in the interaction with human macrophages. Microsc Microanal 19(5):1159-69. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927613001906
5. Perdigão J, Macedo R, Silva C, Machado D, Couto I, Viveiros M, Jordão L, Portugal I. (2013). From Multidrug-Resistant to Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Lisbon, Portugal: the stepwise mode of resistance acquisition. J Antimicrob Chemother 68(1):27-33. https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dks371