Silmara de Lima, PhD

Dr. Silmara de Lima joined the University of Pittsburgh after serving as a Senior Staff Scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University. Dr. de Lima’s research focus is optic nerve and retinal regeneration. She first began studying the retina in graduate school as a way to gain more insight into the central nervous system. Dr. de Lima has continued this pursuit throughout her career, combining a background in neuroscience with a focus on oncology and tumor growth.

Dr. de Lima studies optic nerve regeneration through three major projects. She is particularly interested in testing treatments that have been proven effective for other disorders in mice with neuro fibromatosis type 1. She is also investigating treatments in human cells created with an in vitro model using organoids, assembloids, and iPS cells. Additionally, Dr. de Lima studies how axons create a wrap that makes them more adaptable when regenerating by speeding up the travel of electrical currents, a process called myelination. 

Dr. de Lima also developed a data analysis technique to study how the optic nerve can regenerate after injury or disease. She led the first study that showed that it was possible for mouse axons in the retina to “regrow lengthy axons, reconnect with subcortical visual targets and improve simple visual behaviors.” She contributed to a study that was the first to show “that regenerating axons from the optic nerve become myelinated.”