Mark Sheffield

Mark Sheffield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on the neurobiology of complex memory formation, consolidation, and recall, spanning scales from synapses and dendrites to large-scale neural ensembles.

• Education: BSc/MSc in Neuroscience (University of Nottingham, 2006), PhD in Neurobiology (Northwestern University, 2011), Postdoc in Neurobiology (Northwestern University, 2017).

Sheffield's lab employs optical techniques (e.g., 2-photon imaging, optogenetics) and virtual reality platforms to study memory mechanisms in mice. Key topics include synaptic plasticity, place cell dynamics, neuromodulation, and contextual fear conditioning. His work has implications for understanding memory disorders like Alzheimer's and Schizophrenia.

Scientific awards include the Whitehall Foundation (2017-2020), Sloan (2018-2020), Searle Scholars Program (2018-2021), and NIH DP2 New Innovator Award (2018-2023). His publications emphasize hippocampal CA1/CA3 circuitry, dendritic activity, and reward expectation effects on memory.