Our Team
Principal Investigator
Mark Sheffield Ph.D.
Postdoctorates
Ph.D. Rutgers University
After completing undergrad at Purdue University and my PhD in Neuroscience at Rutgers University, I continue to study learning and memory in the Sheffield lab. Here, I am investigating how different populations of neurons contribute to spatial representation and am also investigating the intersection of behavior and neural coding. Outside of lab, I enjoy being outdoors, whether that's in my garden or out hiking!
Mikayla Voglewede Ph.D.
Antoine Madar Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison
My research focuses on how the hippocampus processes information to support learning and memory. Previously, I completed my PhD in 2018 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Matthew Jones’s lab on “Pattern Separation in the Hippocampus in Health and Epilepsy. Please visit this link to learn more! https://antoinemadar.github.io/
Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University
I grew up in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, before attending Johns Hopkins University for my undergraduate degree and PhD. After a brief postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania, I joined the Sheffield lab to study how coordination and communication between mossy cells and granule cells in the dentate gyrus support the formation and retrieval of episodic memory. Outside of the lab, you can usually find me outdoors, hiking with my wife and dog, or cooking, woodworking, or homebrewing.
Douglas Goodsmith Ph.D.
Graduate Students
I joined the Oswald and Sheffield labs in spring 2025, and my project is focused on how somatostatin interneurons in dCA1 contribute to spatial coding deficits in aging. Before coming to UChicago, I worked with Francesco Savelli at UT-San Antonio studying off-track head scanning behavior in rats, a behavior linked to rapid place field formation and remapping. In my free time I enjoy crocheting, playing board games/TTRPGs, and watching reality TV with my cats!
Payton Davis
Hi! I'm David. I grew up in England and the suburbs of Chicago. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh, before joining the MD/PhD program at UChicago. I am really interested in how both encoding and retrieval can take place simultaneously within the hippocampus, and I am studying how thalamic inputs to the hippocampus can regulate these processes. In my free time, I love finding new shows to watch, trying new sports and making sweet treats!
David Gascoigne
CNS
BSc. Boston University
Investigating the influence of Mossy cells in the dentate gyrus on CA3 neural dynamics during learning.
Ariana Tortolani
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and completed my bachelor's at the University of Illinois. In the Sheffield lab, I am investigating how hippocampal representations support reinforcement learning, and the neuromodulatory mechanisms that support these representations. In my free time you can find me rock climbing and playing with my cat.
Connor Davidson
Lab Technician
I attended the University of Chicago as an undergraduate and worked in the Sheffield Lab, where I completed my honors thesis investigating how reward expectation influences the spatial stability of CA3 neurons as mice navigated a virtual reality track. I graduated in June 2026 and now work as a research technician in the Sheffield Lab while applying to medical school during my gap year. Outside the lab, I enjoy kickboxing on weekends and occasionally watching Phineas and Ferb.
John Ponce
Undergraduate Students
My name is Omar Siddiqui and I am a prospective biological sciences major on the pre med track. I am from Detroit, Michigan. Working under Mikayla, I am studying how different VR environments affect behavioral learning, place cell formation, and the stability of hippocampal spatial representation over time. In my free time, I like reading and long walks on the beach.
Omar Siddiqui
Alumni
Post-doctorates
Joe DiPietro - Currently working at Nikon as a Senior Biosystems Applications Manager
Seetha Krishnan
Graduate students
Can Dong - PhD in Neuroscience- currently a postdoc in Lisa Giocomo’s lab at Stanford
Chad Heer - PhD in Neuroscience - currently a postdoc in Toshihide Hige’s lab at UNC and a Spire Fellow
Yuhung Chiu - PhD in Physics
Heather Ratigan - PhD in Neuroscience
Anqi Jiang
Undergraduates
Denisse Morales-Rodriguez - currently at UC-San francisco pursuing her MD-PhD
Sophia Vann-Adibe
Shai Smith
Roma Shah
Mohamed Fawaz
Zinnia Saha
Phoebe Cao
Reilly McClanahan
Will Carson
Anthony James Jr.
Valerie Barreto
Stacia Konow
Anwita Revoori
Lab Technicians
Chery Cherian - Currently at UChicago pursuing his Ph.D. in Neuroscience with Dr. John Maunsell
Madeline Klinger - Currently at UC-Berkeley pursuing her Ph.D. in Neuroscience
Bennett Scott
Lab Pictures
