Marcela Uliano-Silva
@marcelauliano.bsky.social
Genome Scientist | Tree of Life Wellcome Sanger
Senior bioinformatician and TED Fellow @marcelauliano.bsky.social is an expert in genomics and keeping science accessible. Read the blog to learn more ⤵️ sangerinstitute.blog/2026/09/15/s...
Sloths, sequencing and South America - Wellcome Sanger Institute Blog
From invasive mussels to sloths, Dr Marcela Uliano da Silva at the Wellcome Sanger Institute shares her varied career journey, with a consistent focus on inclusive research and effective scientific co...
sangerinstitute.blog
Carmen, you are very generous and a great writer! Thank you so much for this piece!
Carmen Denman Hume@carmcdhume.bsky.social · 4w agoThis story could have been twenty times as long! @marcelauliano.bsky.social was so generous with her time whilst I got the story just right! Read about her journey and genomics training efforts in South America (shoutout to the JEDI @ebpgenome.bsky.social team!) - more in this story ⤵️
@marcelauliano.bsky.social et al. identify at least 38 sloth-specific retrocopies with strong signs of domestication, several of which are functionally linked to metabolism. These may contribute to the characteristic phenotype observed in this highly specialized group of mammals. 1/2
Elevated retrocopy burden and sloth-specific expansions illuminate mammalian genome evolution - BMC Biology
Background Xenarthrans, comprising sloths, anteaters, and armadillos, represent one of the most morphologically and physiologically specialized mammalian clades, yet the genomic basis of their adaptat...
bit.ly
CRISPR-mediated centromere fission generates neochromosomes with distorted meiotic inheritance in Arabidopsis biorxiv.org/content/10.6... new preprint from us - includes changing the Arabidopsis karyotype from 5 -> 6 chromosomes using Cas9 & outcomes of 5/6 chromosome hybrid meiosis
New preprint: 338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders. Big congrats to @arf-mln.bsky.social, for getting this giant piece together. Big collaboration of @joanameier.bsky.social's and my groups. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.64898/202...
Excited to launch the first call for proposals focusing on policy and/or societal impact of evolutionary biology research. Activities might include: ✅ local meetings on policy and/or societal impact ✅ actions to influence policy 💰€500-2K available Read more here and apply: shorturl.at/ixlby
GIGA VI was a great success! Thank you to everyone who joined us, our keynote speakers, and all of our sponsors. We are already looking forward to the next GIGA meeting!
Thank you Scott! GIGA has been a blast! WHAT a conference! Its the wonderland for many of us working on (marine) invertebrate genomics! #GIGA2026 @ebpgenome.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social #DarwinTreeOfLife
Scott C Edmunds@scedmunds.bsky.social · 3mo agoGreat to see a #GIGAVI keynote by Marcela Uliano-Silva @marcelauliano.bsky.social on an atlas of molluscan genomics. Marcela has a long history working on these species, you can see her 2018 TEDtalk on crowdfunding the golden mussel genome that we loved at #BauhiniaGenome youtu.be/IOPEPnQYoOE?...
After a blast at #SMBE2026, soon off to #GIGA2026 to speak on our Atlas of Mollusca Genomes. A unprecedented dataset of high-quality molluscan genomes and a wonderful group of collaborators together to unravel genomic features and mechanisms of the second largest animal phyla. Hope to see you there!
Evolution of genomes drives me. So does social justice. Had a blast speaking on LINE1s creating novelty in sloths genomes and Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Challenges to sequence all life on Earth with and for the benefit of all at #SMBE2026 Paper at: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
We don't always get it right, but building a more equitable and inclusive global biodiversity genomics community is work worth doing. The Earth BioGenome Project JEDI Committee is recruiting new members. Join us: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
EBP Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Nomination Form
Miyari, Hola, Olá, Salut, Nǐn hǎo, Zdravstvuyte, Guten Tag, Konnichiwa, Asalaam alaikum, Goddag, Shikamoo, Yassas, Selamat siang, Namaste, Shalom, Merhaba, Dzień dobry... in whichever language you pre...
docs.google.com
We don't always get it right, but building a more equitable and inclusive global biodiversity genomics community is work worth doing. The Earth BioGenome Project JEDI Committee is recruiting new members. Join us: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
EBP Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Nomination Form
Miyari, Hola, Olá, Salut, Nǐn hǎo, Zdravstvuyte, Guten Tag, Konnichiwa, Asalaam alaikum, Goddag, Shikamoo, Yassas, Selamat siang, Namaste, Shalom, Merhaba, Dzień dobry... in whichever language you pre...
docs.google.com
High quality genomes for sloths and anteaters and great mammalian biology findings alert! 🦥🧬 @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Elevated retrocopy burden and sloth-specific expansions illuminate mammalian genome evolution - BMC Biology
Background Xenarthrans, comprising sloths, anteaters, and armadillos, represent one of the most morphologically and physiologically specialized mammalian clades, yet the genomic basis of their adaptat...
link.springer.com
Por qué el ADN del perezoso de dos dedos cambió lo que se sabía sobre el metabolismo mamífero www.infobae.com/america/cien... Paper here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Por qué el ADN del perezoso de dos dedos cambió lo que se sabía sobre el metabolismo mamífero
La investigación internacional identifica mecanismos evolutivos que abren nuevas vías en la búsqueda de terapias médicas y el análisis de la eficiencia biológica humana
infobae.com
Sloths are the slowest mammals on the planet and now we know why. Scientists have sequenced the two-toed sloth genome and found ‘jumping genes’ linked to their extremely slow metabolism 🦥 Read more here ⤵️ https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/why-are-sloths-so-slow-its-in-their-dna/
An excellent two day @royalsociety.org meeting packed with discussion about how pangenomics is revolutionising evolutionary biology. Thank you to all the amazing speakers and attendees who contributed to the rich discussions and @henrylnorth.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social for co-organising!
The word on the street is, that someone might be organising a virtual biannual Diptera Comparative Genomics symposium to facilitate knowledge exchange and foster collaborations. Let me know, if you would you be interested in joining the community and possibly contribute to papers such the one below.
KamilSJaron.bsky.social@kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 4mo agoA big preprint from my group! Muller Elements are considered to be conserved in flies. We tested it by reconstructing the ancestral dipteran karyotype using 340 chromosomal genomes and suprise suprise, they're not... Led by @juliagries.bsky.social and Sam Ebdon. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵👇
High quality genomes for sloths and anteaters and great mammalian biology findings alert! 🦥🧬 @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Elevated retrocopy burden and sloth-specific expansions illuminate mammalian genome evolution - BMC Biology
Background Xenarthrans, comprising sloths, anteaters, and armadillos, represent one of the most morphologically and physiologically specialized mammalian clades, yet the genomic basis of their adaptat...
link.springer.com
A big preprint from my group! Muller Elements are considered to be conserved in flies. We tested it by reconstructing the ancestral dipteran karyotype using 340 chromosomal genomes and suprise suprise, they're not... Led by @juliagries.bsky.social and Sam Ebdon. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵👇
The Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee is seeking 4-6 new members. This year, priorities include developing an EBP demographic survey and expanding outreach, education, and storytelling in biodiversity genomics.
Jeremy Wang developed rammap, a minimap2 rewrite in Rust. It achieves comparable or better performance than minimap2 and produces identical output to minimap2. During rewrite, Jeremy found two long-existing bugs in minimap2 which are fixed in v2.31. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Excited to announce this September we’ll runa 3-day course at the @nhm-london.bsky.social 🤩with @marcelauliano.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social and Sean Stankowski @ucl.ac.uk Big thanks to @kaplipa.bsky.social for the invitation and for making this possible❤️
When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.
It was fun! Talked about all the experience we have at the Tree of Life as we produce and release thousands of genomes! #sangerInstitute #TreeOfLife www.sanger.ac.uk/programme/tr...
Tree of Life
We generate and use high-quality genome sequences to explore the evolution of life, provide the raw materials for new biotechnology and deliver tools for biodiversity monitoring and conservation.
sanger.ac.uk
Workshops@evomics.bsky.social · 9mo agoMorning lecture by Marcela Uliano-Silva (@marcelauliano.bsky.social) on Wonders of Genome Assembly! How does a de novo genome sequencing project looks like? What are the steps to follow to get the best genome assembly possible? She covers it all! 🙆🏻♀️🧬💻 #evomics2026
I am looking for a postdoc to develop high-performance algorithms in computational genomics. Email or DM me if interested. For more information, see hlilab.github.io/vacancies. RTs appreciated!
HLi Lab - Vacancies
Openings
hlilab.github.io
We need your help! If you have a few minutes, please fill out a very short survey about your preferences on butterflies and art - all responses are welcome! www.unveiling.eu This is part of a project that aims to understand how the beauty of butterflies influences conservation: Unveiling (1/2)
Unveiling - Home
unveiling.eu
final week to apply for @sangerinstitute.bsky.social PhD programme (due Nov 27th) -- free to apply, open to anyone anywhere, and a superb training opportunity for students interested in genomic approaches applied to biodiversity, pathogens, vectors, and of course us pesky humans.
We’ve just started our 5-day course with @marcelauliano.bsky.social & Joao on assembling eukaryotic genomes with @pacbio.bsky.social long reads and Hi-C! Attendees are learning how to handle raw data, run assemblies, scaffold chromosomes & assess quality.
