Luís M. Silva

Luís M. Silva

@luismsilva.bsky.social

Disease ecology 🦠 | Parasite evolution 🧬| Postdoc with @kayla-king.bsky.social at UBC 🇨🇦 | Music geek and art lover | he/him | 🇵🇹 📍Vancouver, CA https://luis-m-silva.com/ #IDSky #DiversityInSTEM #FirstGen #OpenScience

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Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

New paper out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! 🎉 Who drives disease transmission? The answer seems obvious: measure who releases or disperses the most parasites. But after dissecting transmission step by step, we found that’s often not the case. 👇 🧵 #EvoSky #IDSky www.cell.com/current-biol...

cell.comTransmission heterogeneity emerges from uncoupled parasite shedding and spreadingSilva et al. show that disease transmission emerges from multiple ecological bottlenecks rather than a single host trait. Separating parasite shedding from downstream infection success reveals why hos...

Luís M. Silva reposted

Subham Mridha
@subhammridha.bsky.social

Predation resistance mechanisms operate at an individual level, adaptations are sometimes pleiotropic and compensatory. Thanks to all my co-authors who made this research possible Ove, Sarah, Saskia, Bernd, @rkmicrobes.bsky.social @simonahuwiler.bsky.social #AMR #Bdello #Evolution tiny.cc/2qpa101

tiny.ccOuter membrane changes enable evolutionary escape from bacterial predationAbstract. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to modern medicine. To combat AMR pathogens, natural predators like bacteriophages and predatory bacte
Subham Mridha@subhammridha.bsky.social

Our paper in @isme-microbes.bsky.social uncovers the genetic causes of predation resistance in bacteria, that predominantly occur through outer membrane changes. Adaptations are metabolically expensive. This has great implications in the clinical setting for use of #BALOs.

Luís M. Silva reposted

Michelle Facette
@mfacette.bsky.social

UMass Amherst Dept of Biology is hiring a TT faculty member in Evolutionary Biology! careers.umass.edu/jobs/assista... We have a diverse and wonderful dept - please consider joining us!

careers.umass.eduAssistant Professor - Evolutionary Biology - Amherst, Massachusetts, United StatesTitle: Assistant Professor - Evolutionary Biology Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences Department: Biology Work Location: Amherst Schedule: Full Time Work A...

Luís M. Silva reposted

John Tuthill
@tuthill.bsky.social

Our digital sphinx, a cautionary tale about the interpretation of connectome-body models, is now a reviewed preprint at @elife.bsky.social. We are grateful to the reviewers for engaging seriously with what we hope is a useful (if absurd) demonstration. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

elifesciences.orgThe digital sphinx: Can a worm brain control a fly body?
John Tuthill@tuthill.bsky.social

🧵 New preprint led by @bingbrunton.bsky.social, @elliottabe.bsky.social, @lawrencehu.bsky.social We gave a worm brain control of a fly body and it walked What did we learn? Nothing, other than deep reinforcement learning is effective We call it the digital sphinx www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Luís M. Silva reposted

Mark A. Hanson
@hansonmark.bsky.social

HIRING MICROBIOLOGIST: effective start asap! The PDRA/PDRF (per xp) will investigate the interactions of bumblebee antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with the gut microbiota & more. Our work has shown AMPs have striking specificity for ecological microbes. careers.exeter.ac.uk/vacancies/13... 1/2

careers.exeter.ac.ukPostdoctoral Researcher Associate or Fellow in Cornwall | University of ExeterView details and apply for this Postdoctoral Researcher Associate or Fellow vacancy in Cornwall. Postdoctoral Research Associate / Fellow This job is part of an Advanced Research + Inventio...

Luís M. Silva reposted

Kayla King, Ph.D.
@kayla-king.bsky.social

New King lab paper @currentbiology.bsky.social led by the brilliant @luismsilva.bsky.social on parasite shedders and spreaders: www.cell.com/current-biol...

cell.comTransmission heterogeneity emerges from uncoupled parasite shedding and spreadingSilva et al. show that disease transmission emerges from multiple ecological bottlenecks rather than a single host trait. Separating parasite shedding from downstream infection success reveals why hos...
Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

5/ This suggests that transmission heterogeneity emerges because every stage filters the next one. Rather than looking for a single “super” host, we may need to ask how different hosts reshape transmission at different stages of the infection cycle.

Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

6/ #Supershedders and #superspreaders are not necessarily the same individuals, or even useful definitions, as they depend on the context. Understanding disease spread means following pathogens beyond release and across the full transmission process.

Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

3/ The surprise? Host rankings kept changing. The hosts releasing the most parasites were often not the hosts causing the highest infection burden or the most severe disease in the next host.

Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

4/ Shedding explained how many parasites reached the next host. But it didn’t explain what those parasites did once they got there. The quantity of transmission and the quality of transmission turned out to be different things.

Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

2/ We followed transmission across the infection cycle for a panel of hosts strains: • susceptibility to different routes • parasite shedding • infection-induced dispersal • recipient virulence • recipient parasite burden Instead of assuming these processes covary, we measured each one separately.

Luís M. Silva reposted

Tamara Szentivanyi 🦇🦠🦟
@tamikasz.bsky.social

One of my former student, Laura, who is an excellent young researcher, is currently looking for a PhD position in Europe. 👩‍🔬 She recently completed her Master’s in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Université Paris Cité, specializing in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Luís M. Silva reposted

Lee Henry
@henrylabsymbio.bsky.social

⭐Postdoc position available⭐ How do symbionts evolve new beneficial functions? Join the Henry Lab to investigate how horizontal gene transfer drives host–microbe symbioses. 🦠 Apply below Enquiries: l.henry@qmul.ac.uk Please share! #Postdoc #EvolutionaryBiology #Symbiosis henry-lab.co.uk

qmul-jobs.tal.netPostdoctoral Research Associate in Evolution of Host–Microbe Symbioses - QMUL JobsID: 10612. Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate in Evolution of Host–Microbe Symbioses. Application Deadline:

Luís M. Silva reposted

Ben Miller
@benwritesthings.bsky.social

One arrest at the Nazi protest against Pride, multiple arrests at the leftist Internationalist Pride, and a murderer managed to break through a police barricade and drive a van into the big pride event without being stopped or caught. Berlin’s cops and politicians have made their priorities clear.

Luís M. Silva reposted

Alice Laigle
@alicelaigle.bsky.social

📝 NEW PREPRINT It’s with an immense joy that our preprint is finally out and it’s my first first co-author paper!!! 🧬🍄 What is the diversity of 3D genome architectures in fungi? We reconstructed the 3D genome architecture of public Hi-C data from 55 fungal. Preprint: lnkd.in/enxTh2Cm

Luís M. Silva reposted

Iris van Rooij 💭
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social

“Used ChatGPT as my search engine” 👀 🫠 Editor-in-Chief of Science

Holden Thorp@holdenthorp.bsky.social

Hi, this is Holden emerging from my Bluesky hiatus to tell everyone that when checking the links in the piece, I used ChatGPT as my search engine (does anyone use Google anymore?). The piece was written by me and edited by humans. So all the links were checked by me and again by our copyeditors.

Luís M. Silva reposted

Sara Reardon
@sarareardon.bsky.social

Exclusive @science.org: Circadian biologist Satchidananda Panda is resigning from Salk following multiple sexual harassment investigations. Lab members and other employees spoke up after Salk refused to reveal the investigations' findings. #MeTooSTEM www.science.org/content/arti...

science.orgProminent Salk Institute biologist to resign following sexual misconduct investigationStaffers complain that Salk allowed circadian rhythms researcher Satchidananda Panda to depart quietly, while the allegations and findings remain under wraps
Luís M. Silva
@luismsilva.bsky.social

In a time we as (early-career) researchers are under immense pressure from all sides, fostering academic agency may help relieve the mental toll science can take on you; and with that open the possibility to make better science!

Luís M. Silva reposted

Martin Plöderl
@ploederl.bsky.social

1. We wrote a letter to the editor about this fluoxetine trial for children aged 4-6. Given the urgency and the expected delay in response, we also published it as a preprint, available here: doi.org/10.31234/osf... Which problems did we detect with this study ? 🧵

Chris Aiken, MD@chrisaikenmd.bsky.social

Here's the first trial to test fluoxetine for #depression in children under 6: psych-partners.com/fluoxetine-f... Positive signal, but agitation is a risk, and a single study doesn't change the fact that Parent-Child Interaction #Therapy has the best evidence in this age group. #psychiatry #pmhnp

Luís M. Silva reposted

Mark A. Hanson
@hansonmark.bsky.social

As someone in the midst of hiring, I do really appreciate when someone uses CRediT author taxonomy. When the Author Contributions section says "X, Y, Z, performed experiments" in a paper with like... 7 figures spanning all kinds of experiments... please use CRediT! Low-key: I'm hiring. Email me!

Crossref@crossref.org

Think about the last paper you wrote 🤔 how many different roles were involved? And how many different roles did one contributor 🧑‍💻 take on? Explore how we've built multiple contributor roles and support for CRediT in Schema 5.5 🔗https://doi.org/10.64000/6xx3c-nmp80 #CrossrefUpdate #Schema55

Luís M. Silva reposted

The Advocate
@advocate.com

Under Trump, a record-breaking number of erectile dysfunction drugs are being prescribed to cis troops while the battle over trans military bans rages on.

Luís M. Silva reposted

ProPublica
@propublica.org

A study concluded that the uninhibited pumping of groundwater by farmers, cities and corporations around the world now accounts for 68% of the total loss of fresh water at the latitudes where most people live. (Published July 2025)

propublica.org“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global ThreatA new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

Luís M. Silva reposted

Bob Wong
@bbmwong.bsky.social

Do you have a background in behavioural ecology and are you interested in doing a PhD in Australia? I’m looking for new grad students so check out our website (BobWongLab.org) or come find me in Torino at #ISBE2026. 🐟🐠

Luís M. Silva reposted

Julien Lie-Panis
@jliep.bsky.social

Why do societies rely on rigid moral rules? Don't lie. Keep your promises. Don't steal. We all recognize there are good reasons to make exceptions. So why are moral rules so often categorical? Our new paper proposes an answer. 🧵

Luís M. Silva reposted

Lia Ferreira
@liaferreira.bsky.social

Quero lá saber das burcas, meus! Puta q vos pariu e às burcas! A PORRA DOS EXAMES, CARALHO! E o estado geral das escolas. Os professores. A saúde. Os médicos. O SNS. A Habitação. O preço das casas. A inflacção. O preço da comida. Os combustíveis. CARALHO. Incompetentes de merda. Escroques. Escarros.

Agência Lusa@lusa.pt

PSD, Chega, IL e CDS aprovaram na especialidade “lei das burcas” com oposição da esquerda

lusa.ptPSD, Chega, IL e CDS aprovaram na especialidade “lei das burcas” com oposição da esquerdaPSD, Chega, Iniciativa Liberal e CDS aprovaram hoje, na especialidade, com a oposição da esquerda parlamentar, um projeto conhecido como “lei das burcas”, que se destina a proibir a ocultação do rosto em espaços públicos.

Luís M. Silva reposted

lauren
@lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com

more broadly than just the looksmaxxing weirdos i think the Influencer Era is going to be a golden age for Weird Celebrity Deaths unseen since hollywood in the 1920's. giving people the national fame of movie stars with the institutional mental health support of the wrestling industry is a bad combo

The Independent@the-independent.com

Looksmaxxing influencer Connor Murphy drowns in Thailand after fleeing police: reports

trib.alLooksmaxxing influencer Connor Murphy drowns after fleeing police: reportsThe bodybuilder had reportedly been living in Southeast Asia with his girlfriend before his death