Alcino Silva

Biography

Alcino J. Silva pioneered the field of Molecular and Cellular Cognition, and in 2002 founded and became the first President of the Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society. In 2006/2007 Dr. Silva served as Scientific Director of the Intramural Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. He currently serves as the Director of The UCLA Integrative Center for Learning and Memory and is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Neurobiology, Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology at UCLA. His laboratory is searching for the molecular, cellular and circuit processes that underlie the allocation, encoding, and storage of information in the brain. Insights into mechanisms of memory are being used to unravel the causes and develop treatments for cognitive deficits associated with aging, intellectual disabilities, and autism. Key discoveries in his laboratory include some of the first mechanisms of mammalian synaptic plasticity involved in learning and memory (e.g., the role of synaptic calmodulin kinase II and the transcription factor CREB), the first molecular and cellular mechanisms of remote memory in neocortical circuits, first description of memory allocation processes in the brain, first report that adult treatments may revert cognitive deficits associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, development of treatments in mice for Neurofibromatosis type I, Tuberous Sclerosis and Noonan Syndrome, two of which were followed up with large scale clinical trials, and the discovery of a set of algorithms to track causal information in biology (researchmaps.org). In recognition of his contributions to Molecular and Cellular Cognition, he was recently awarded the Portuguese National Order of Knighthood (Order of Prince Henry), Senior Roche Award For Translational Neuroscience, and became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Research Interest

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). (researchmaps.org).