Alcino J. Silva

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=175 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="12b400af0dkcfsz.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Silvalab"><U><B>Silvalab</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>    </div> <div> <B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Silvalab"><U><B>HOME</B></U></A><B>          </B><A HREF="projects.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Projects"><U><B>Projects</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="approaches.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Approaches"><U><B>Approaches</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="personnel.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lab Members"><U><B>Lab Members</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>Alcino J. 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Silva</B></div> <div> <B>Africa and Portugal</B></div> <div> <B>I was born in Portugal in 1961, but my family moved to Luanda, Angola, when I was 3 years-old. Although we left Africa when I was only 11, and war has kept me away ever since, I still remember vividly the people, the wilderness, the music, the art, the food...  Within months of my return to Portugal in the summer of 1973, the country went through its most important change in recent history; The April Revolution of 1974. Without violence, Portuguese society went from the repression of fascism to the freedom of democracy.  I was lucky to leave through those heady times, full of promise and excitement, when many of us believed that we could change the world. In some respects, we actually did;  Portugal today is a democratic, open society with a vibrant culture, a startling contrast with the previous 50 dark years of fascism.  It was with deep gratitude, humility and enormous surprise that I recently received the news that I was awarded the Order of Prince Henry (the Portuguese National Order of Knighthood) for my contributions to science. I only hope that one day I will come to deserve the distinction that such recognition carries.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>New Jersey</B></div> <div> <B>The revolution had an exciting rejuvenating impact on Portuguese society, but it left most of the Country's institutions in chaos, including its Universities. So, I managed to convince my reluctant parents to let me study abroad. I ended up where much of my family, including my great grand-parents had lived: the United States of America.  Rutgers University was an incredible place, and I spent four wonderful years figuring out what I would do for the rest of my life. I had the good fortune of working with William Sofer, a talented, patient and generous fly geneticist that taught me that to be a scientist is to serve Science (and not the other way around...), and that a career in Science is first and foremost a love affair. However, it was not until my senior year that I decided  to pursue graduate studies in molecular genetics, and not in philosophy (epistemology).</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Utah</B></div> <div> <B>At the University of Utah, I worked with one of the most talented scientists I have ever met. Ray White was the kind of advisor that always made me feel smarter and more creative than I actually was. He gave me the luxury of independence and taught me that Science has to be first and foremost fun! Human Genetics was in its infancy, and I was privileged to witness the early development of this incredible field. My graduate work showed that epigenetic patterns of DNA methylation can be polymorphic and that they are inherited in a Mendelian fashion. It was fun to develop this quirky project, and I remember fondly the many energizing discussions I had with Ray and other members of the lab. During my graduate studies I became intrigued by the creative process, and I organized yearly graduate symposia where leading luminaries from the Arts and Sciencies shared their insights on this subject.  Although Science plays a central role in modern culture, economics and history, there have been very few efforts to understand the scientific creative process.  Instead, many academics actually believe that it will never be possible to systematically study and improve the approaches we use in Science.  It was in Utah that I met Tawnie, my wife of 22 years, and where my daughter Elenna was born in November of 1985! Needless to say, the majestic mountains and the kind and warm people of that great state remain close to my heart...</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Massachusetts</B></div> <div> <B>The next and most important step in my education was my postdoctoral studies with Susumu Tonegawa at MIT. The work for which Susumu was awarded a Nobel Prize is one of the most elegant and profound discoveries of our time. Once again, I found myself working alone on a problem outside of the expertise of those in my group. Susumu was interested in Neurobiology, but at the time everyone else in the laboratory was working on immunology. The rigorous high standards of the laboratory together with its extraordinary climate of intelectual freedom, allowed me to develope and fine tune an approach that we continue to use to this day (</B><A HREF="http://www.molcellcog.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.molcellcog.org"><U><B>Molecular and Cellular Cognition</B></U></A><B>). Susumu taught me that a child's sense of wonder infuses Science with the simplicity, humility and honesty that guide true innovation. I will forever be grateful for his generosity without which my career would have remained in the shadows of his accomplishments. It was also in Boston that my son Alexander was born in August of 1990.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>New York</B></div> <div> <B>From MIT, I went to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where I set up my own laboratory in the summer of 1992. The success of our efforts are in great part due to the support I got from Bruce Stillman and Jim Watson. They gave legitimacy to my dreams and their unwavering support helped our laboratory weather the skepticism and hostility against the field  that we were pioneeri</B><B>ng </B><B>(Molecular and Cellular Cognition)</B><B>. </B><B>Fifteen years later Molecular and Cellular Cognition includes more than 100 laboratories in America, Europe and Asia, and a new </B><A HREF="http://www.molcellcog.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.molcellcog.org"><U><B>Society</B></U></A><B> with more than 1400 members and chapters in the US, Europe and Asia.  I owe much to the </B><B>young and talented people</B><B> that joined my laboratory and developed the ideas and carried out the experiments that helped to shape this young field. Their success is my greatest reward, and their energy, commitment and tenacity are a constant source of inspiration!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>California</B></div> <div> <B>In the Spring of 1998, I moved my laboratory to UCLA where we initiated a new phase of our work: Our molecular and cellular beginnings in hippocampal-learning led us into the study of cortical memory storage; Our passion for understanding the biological basis of how simple organisms solve problems brought us to biological studies of complex problem solving in humans (Creativity); From studying mouse models of memory disorders, we became involved with human clinical studies that are starting to unravel the molecular basis of our </B><B>memories.  My obsession with science led to our current studies in</B><B> the Science of Science or S2</B><B>, an effort to systematically investigate and test general principles of scientific practise. </B><B>At UCLA I see the tremendous power of collegiality and cooperative research at its best. UCLA is the foremost example of what academic science can be, and what a community of interactive, collaborative but also deeply individual and independent minds can create and achieve together.  I am truely proud to be part of this community!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Maryland</B></div> <div> <B>I spent a major part of  2006 in the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP) as scientific di</B><B>rector before returning to UCLA in the Spring of 2007. The NIMH-IRP is an incredible place with incomparable resources and with a number of talented and imaginative scientists that I got to know as colleagues and friends.  I hope that my brief time as director of this Institution helped its efforts to re-invent itself. I will be forever grateful to the many people at NIMH that helped me through that exciting and eventful year, a year that became a turning point in my life. How wonderful it is to be a scientist again!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Alcino J. Silva</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>