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Paula Ramos-Silva

Paula Ramos-Silva

Data Steward (she/her, PhD)

Leiden University Medical Center

I am a bioinformatician and molecular biologist focused on data stewardship implementations, teaching, best research practices, and research support.

Download my resume .

Interests
  • Data Stewardship
  • Transcriptomics
  • Proteomics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Molecular Evolution
  • Biomineralization
  • Spatial Biology
Education
  • PhD in Biology - Bioinformatics, 2013

    University of Amsterdam

  • MSc + BSc in Biological Engineering, 2007

    Instituto Superior Tecnico

Professional experience

 
 
 
 
 
Data Steward
Sep 2024 – Present Leiden, The Netherlands
 
 
 
 
 
Technical Application Scientist
Mar 2023 – Sep 2024 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
I support researchers in resolving complex issues, from sample prep to instrument troubleshooting and multi-omics data analyses.
 
 
 
 
 
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Researcher
Jul 2018 – Aug 2022 Leiden, The Netherlands
I used omics approaches in planktonic calcifiers, to better understand the mechanisms governing their shell formation and impacts of ocean acidification on this process.
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Genomics
Mar 2014 – May 2018 Oeiras, Portugal
I used comparative genomics to trace the origin and macroevolution of sporulation in bacteria.

Projects

Funded research projects

.js-id-evospore
Evolution of Planktonic Gastropod Calcification
Ocean acidification due to increasing CO2 reduces the amount of carbonate ions in seawater, putting a wide range of marine calcifiers at risk. Sea butterflies and sea elephants are among the most vulnerable calcifiers since they inhabit the open ocean and make thin shells of calcium carbonate. Genetic tools for these planktonic snails are scarce making it difficult to predict their future in acidified waters. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie project EPIC aimed at studying the molecular processes by which shell formation evolved in planktonic gastropods over macroevolutionary scales, and to inform on their potential to adapt under long-term ocean acidification.
Evolution of Planktonic Gastropod Calcification
Understanding the evolutionary history and the diversity of bacterial endosporulation
The project EvoSpore was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. The goal was to uncover the origin and evolution of bacterial endosporulation through comparative genomics. Endosporulation is a developmental pathway that initiates from the vegetative cell and culminates with the formation of highly resistant, dormant spores. Spores are everywhere, they allow environmental persistence, dissemination and, for pathogens, are infection vehicles. We found that for the model Bacillus subtilis and for the pathogen Clostridioides difficile, sporulation was shapped by two major evolutionary transitions. The first one was at the base of the Firmicutes and the second one at the base of the B. subtilis group and within the Peptostreptococcaceae family, which includes C. difficile. We also found that early and late sporulation regulons have been coevolving and that sporulation genes entail greater innovation in B. subtilis with many Bacilli lineage-restricted genes. In contrast, C. difficile more often recruits new sporulation genes by horizontal gene transfer, which reflects both its highly mobile genome, the complexity of the gut microbiota, and an adjustment of sporulation to the gut ecosystem.
Understanding the evolutionary history and the diversity of bacterial endosporulation

Publications

All publications available on Google Scholar