Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

Cristal Villalba

Postdoctoral Fellow - Bioinformatics

Dr. Cristal Villalba is a computational biologist specializing in single-cell and spatial transcriptomics of sensory systems and pain. She develops robust, shareable analytics pipelines and partners with clinicians and engineers to translate discovery into impact, while leading practical training in reproducible data science.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2015 - Bachelor in Biological Sciences - UNIPAMPA, Brazil
    • 2018 - Masters in Genetics and Molecular Biology - UFRGS, Brazil
    • 2021 - PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology - UFRGS, Brazil

    Professional Memberships

    • 2019-current - International Society of Computational Biology - https://www.iscb.org/
  • Research

    My research centers on single-cell and spatial transcriptomics of sensory systems—especially dorsal root ganglia and oral tissues—to map pain-relevant cell states and circuits across species. I develop reproducible R/Python pipelines for integration, differential analysis, and cell-type annotation, and pair these with epigenomic and immune/TCR profiling to connect molecular programs to phenotype. I’m particularly interested in cross-species atlases, biomarker discovery, and open, training-friendly methods that make rigorous analyses accessible to collaborators.

  • Publications
    1. Villalba Silva GC, Borsatto T, Schwartz IVD, Sperb-Ludwig F. Characterization of the 3′UTR of the BTD gene and identification of regulatory elements and microRNAs. Genetics and Molecular Biology. 2022;45(1):e20200432. doi:10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2020-0432.
    2. Soares LDF, Villalba Silva GC, Kubaski F, et al. MPSBase: Comprehensive repository of differentially expressed genes for mucopolysaccharidoses. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism. 2021;133(4):372–377. doi:10.1016/j.ymgme.2021.06.004.
    3. Villalba Silva GC, Steindorff T, Silvestri Schuh R, Cardoso Flores N, Matte U. Drug repositioning applied to cardiovascular disease in mucopolysaccharidosis. Life. 2022;12:2085. doi:10.3390/life12122085.
    4. Matschinske J, … Villalba Silva GC, … Blumenthal DB. The AIMe registry for artificial intelligence in biomedical research. Nature Methods. 2021;18(10):1128–1131. doi:10.1038/s41592-021-01241-0.
    5. Villalba Silva GC, Matte U. Neuronetworks: Analysis of brain pathology in mucopolysaccharidoses—A systems biology approach. Neuroscience Informatics. 2022;2(1):100036. doi:10.1016/j.neuri.2021.100036.
    6. Alam J, Yaman E, de Paiva CS, Li D-Q, Villalba Silva GC, Zuo Z, Pflugfelder SC. Changes in conjunctival mononuclear phagocytes and suppressive activity of regulatory macrophages in desiccation-induced dry eye. The Ocular Surface. 2024;34:348–362. doi:10.1016/j.jtos.2024.09.003.

    Conference proceedings

    • Villalba Silva GCV, Soares LDF, Matte U. Oncogenic signaling pathways in mucopolysaccharidoses. In: Advances in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BSB 2020). LNCS 12558. Springer; 2020:259–264. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-65775-8_24.

    Other citable outputs

    • Villalba Silva GC, Matte U. Neuro-networks: investigating the neurological impairment of mucopolysaccharidoses using a systems biology approach [slides]. F1000Research. 2021;10:159. doi:10.7490/f1000research.1118510.1.
    • Villalba Silva GC, Matte U. Systems biology gives clues about the neurological impairment in MPSs [poster]. F1000Research – ISCB Community Journal. 2021;10:210. doi:10.7490/f1000research.1118525.1.

      Eisele, B. S., Silva, G. C. V., Bessow, C., Donato, R., Genro, V. K., & Cunha-Filho, J. S. (2021). An in silico model using prognostic genetic factors for ovarian response in controlled ovarian stimulation: A systematic review. Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics, 38(8), 2007–2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-021-02141-0
       

    Villalba, G. C., & Matte, U. (2021). Fantastic databases and where to find them: Web applications for researchers in a rush. Genetics and molecular biology, 44(2), e20200203. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2020-0203

    Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in Mucopolysaccharidose

    2020 | Book chapter
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-65775-8_24
    Contributors: Gerda Cristal Villalba Silva; Luis Dias Ferreira Soares; Ursula Matte

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