Zélia Silva holds a PhD in Biochemistry and is a Pos Doc researcher who has been studying the role of glycans in the biology of immune dendritic cells (DCs) and cancer. She has studied the role of DC´s sialylated glycans on trafficking and the modulation of surface sialic acid content by ectosialyltransferases present at the cell surface. Her work has also contributed to elucidating the significant importance of sialic acid content of DC´s immunogenicity modulation. These findings led to the use of glycoengineering on DCs to boost their anticancer activity.  She is, currently, committed to unravelling the molecular aspects that account for DC´s improved immunogenicity, namely the enhanced interactions between  DCs and T cells. Through fundamental research, we hope to contribute to the development of innovative cancer immunotherapies based on DCs.

Selected Publications:

• Silva M^#, Silva Z^#, Marques G^#, Ferro T, Gonçalves M, Monteiro M, van Vliet S J, Mohr E, Lino AC., Fernandes AR, Lima FA., van Kooyk Y, Matos T, Tadokoro CE. and Paula A. Videira. 2016. Sialic acid removal from dendritic cells improves antigen cross-presentation and boosts anti-tumor immune responses. 2016.  Oncotarget (doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.9419)

• MG Cabral, Z. Silva, D Ligeiro, E Seixas, H. Crespo, M. Carrascal, M. Silva, AR Piteira, P. Paixão, J. Lau and PA Videira. The phagocytic capacity and immunogenicity of human dendritic cell is improved by alpha 2,6-sialic acid deficiency sialidase. 2013. Immunology. 138:235-45.

• Zélia Silva, K Konstantopoulos, PA Videira. The role of glycans in dendritic cell trafficking. 2012. ABME.40:777-89

• Zélia Silva, ZQ Tong, MG Cabral, C Martins, R Castro, C Reis, H. Trindade, K Konstantopoulos, PA Videira. Sialyl Lewis X-dependent binding of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells to selectins. 2011. BBRC.409:459-464.

• M. G. Cabral, A. R. Piteira, Z. Silva, D. Ligeiro, , R. Brossmer, P. A.Videira. Human Dendritic Cells contain cell surface sialyltransferase activity. 2010. Immunol. Lett. 131:89-96.(doi:10.1016/j.imlet.2010.02)

^#Co-first author