Sandra M Da Silva (Fed)

Sandra works as a Research Chemist in the Biomaterials Group. Her work is focused on developing methods and reference materials for microbial characterization to support stakeholders from different fields where microbes play a role, such as live biotherapeutics and human health (e.g., gut microbiome). Current research interests can be observed in the following projects:

• Microbial metabolomics 
  • Whole Human Stool reference material (RM 8048)
• Microbial Quantification and Viability
  • Escherichia coli reference material
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae reference material (RM8230)
• Rapid Microbial Testing Methods (RMTM)

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Crivat, G.; Da Silva, S. M.; Quach, A. D.; Kethineedi, V.R.; Rosenzweig, Z., 2014. “Luminescent Nanoparticle-Based Probes for Bioassays” Biomedical Photonics Handbook, Second Edition, Taylor & Francis Group; (ISBN: 978-1-4200-8516-7)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Da Silva SM, Lang, AP, Dos Santos, APF, Cabelo, MC, Ciscato, LFML, Bartoloni, FH, Bastos, EL and Baader, WJ, “Cyclic Peroxidic Carbon Dioxide Dimer Fuels Peroxyoxalate Chemiluminescence”. J. Org. Chem., 86(17), 11434-41, 2021.
2. Da Silva SM, Piotrowski PK, Jones CM, Servetas SL, Lin NJ, Lippa KA and Jackson SA. “A NIST-hosted Virtual Workshop on Measuring SARS-COV-2 in wastewater and Fecal Material: A Call for Standards. NIST Special Publication (NIST SP1256), 2020.
3. Mandal R, Cano R, Davis CD, Hayashi D, Jackson SA, Jones CM, Lampe JW, Latullippe ME, Lin NJ, Lippa KA, Piotrowski P, Da Silva SM, Swanson KS and Wishart DS. “Workshop report: Toward the Development of a human whole stool reference material for metabolomic and metagenomic gut microbiome measurements. Metabolomics, 2-16:119, 2020.
4. Berkstein KD, Da Silva SM, Lin NJ and Ripple DC. “Evaluating changes to Ralstonia pickettii in high-purity water to guide selection of potential calibration materials for online water bioburden analyzers”. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotech., 46, pages1469-78. 2019.
5. Da Silva SM, Vang LK, Olson ND, Downey AS, Kelman Z, Salit ML, Lin NJ and Morrow JB, Evaluation of microbial qPCR workflows using engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Biomolecular Detection and Quantification, 27-33(7), 2016.
6. Haghpanah J, Tu R, Da Silva S, Yang D, Mueller S, Weder C, Foster JE, Sacui I, Gilman J, Montclare J, 2013, "Bionanocomposites: Differential Effects of Cellulose Nanocrystals on Protein Diblock Copolymers", Biomacromolecules, 14(12), 4360-7.
7. Goncalves LCP, Da Silva SM, DeRose PC, Ando RA and Bastos EL, 2013 “Beetroot-Pigment-Derived Colorimetric Sensor for Detection of Calcium Dipicolinate in Bacterial Spores”, PLOS One, 8(9), e73701
8. Da Silva SM, Urbas AA, Filliben JJ and Morrow JB; 2013 “Recovery balance: a method for estimating losses in a Bacillus anthracis spore sampling protocol”, J. Applied Microbiology, 114(3), 807-18.
9. Bastos EL, Da Silva SM, Baader WJ; 2013 “Solvent Cage Effects: Basis of a General Mechanism for Efficient Chemiluminescence”, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 78, 4432-9.
10. Downey AS, Da Silva S.M, Olson ND, Filliben JJ and Morrow JB., “Impact of processing method on recovery of bacteria from wipes used in biological surface sampling” Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2012, 78, 5872-5881.
11. Belostotsky I, Da Silva SM, Paez MG and Indig GL, “Mitochondrial Targeting for Photochemotherapy. Can Selective Tumor Cell Killing Be Predicted Based on n-octanol/water Distribution Coefficients? Biotechnic. Histochem. 2011, 86(5), 302-314.
12. Da Silva SM, Filliben JJ and Morrow JB., Parameters Affecting Spore Recovery from Wipes Used in Biological Surface Sampling, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2011, 77(7), 2374-2380.
13. Crivat, G., Da Silva, S.M., Reyes, D. R., Locascio, L. E., Gaitan, M., Rosenzweig, N. and Rosenzweig Z.  “Quantum Dot FRET-Based Probes in Thin Films Grown in Microfluidic Channels, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132(5), 1460-1461.

• 2021 NIST MML Accolade - For the development of a multi-divisional collaboration ("The Poop Team") aimed at the production of a Human Gut Microbiome (a.k.a. human fecal) Reference Material for multi-omic analyses – MML Collaboration and Teamwork category.
• 2020 NIST Gold Medal Award - Recognized for developing standards to improve the decision-making process and response to biological threat agents by first responders.  The suite of standards includes standard methods for powder collection, operational guidelines for first responders, and the first NIST live cell reference material. The suite of standards has been refined in field and interlaboratory studies with professional rescue personnel. These efforts have strengthened the national biothreat response and increased quality of results used to support high-stakes public safety decision-making.
• 2018 NIST MML Accolade - For deployment of a quantitative yeast material that enables safe on-site training for first responders to increase confidence in biothreat detection – MML distinguished associated category.
• 2016 NIST MML Accolade - Accolade For advancing measurement methods and standards to support the emerging field of microbial metrology - MML distinguished associated category.