Joana C Silva

Summary

My group applies evolutionary genetics and genomic sciences to basic research on species evolution and translational research of infectious diseases. I have been studying infectious disease genomics since the early 2000's. At The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) I was part of the team that launched the field of parasite genomics, with work on several Plasmodium and trypanosomatid species, Theileria parva and Trichomonas vaginalis. At the Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, we have ongoing projects on a variety of parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa. These include the causative agents of malaria in humans (genus Plasmodium), tropical theileriosis and East Coast fever in cattle (genus Theileria), human babesiosis (genus Babesia), and human cryptosporidiosis (genus Cryptosporidium). Ongoing projects include the study of species biology and the nature of host-parasite interactions, based on the generation and analyses of genomes, and studies of vaccine efficacy and vaccine design, drug resistance and the evolution of parasite populations, informed by population genomics data. Our research is funded by NSF, NIH, USDA and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bioinformatics Genetics Genomics Infectious Diseases Parasitology

Past or current institution affiliations