The Team
Steffen Wolff, PhD
Assistant Professor
Steffen received a BSc and MSc in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He then pursued his PhD with Andreas Lüthi at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland, dissecting the role of defined neuronal populations in fear learning. He went on for a postdoc with Bence Ölveczky at Harvard University to study the distributed neuronal circuitry underlying the learning and execution of motor skills. He opened the Wolff Lab at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore in March 2021.
Outside the lab Steffen tries to put his studies on motor skill learning to good use to improve his beach volleyball skills.
Sophie Elvig
PhD Student
Sophie is a Program in Neuroscience PhD student. She graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2019 with degrees in Neuroscience and Psychology. There she focused her studies on neuropharmacology and opioid use disorder. She also spent time working at the National Institute on Drug Abuse researching metabolic treatments for alcohol use disorder. She joined the Wolff lab to investigate how disruption of basal ganglia nuclear projections may affect complex motor learning and the execution of previously learned sills.
In her free time Sophie likes to go to concerts, spend time outdoors, and go skiing (when possible).
Oluwatomiwa Oladunni
MD-PhD Student
Tomi is an MD-PhD student at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. He graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Currently, his goal is to learn how to learn about the brain and use that to treat patients in the future.
Outside academia, his hobbies include playing soccer, biking, hiking, listening to music and building on his skills as a barista and mixologist.
Saovleak Noury Khim
PhD Student
Noury is a Program in Neuroscience PhD student. She graduated from Temple University in 2019 with a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Neuroscience. There she studied activity-dependent mechanisms of circuit formation and how new neurons integrate into established circuits. She completed a postbaccalaureate program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where she focused on developing novel CRISPR tools to study genetic underpinnings of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diseases. She joined the Wolff lab to investigate how the brain learns and executes multiple motor skills under various context conditions.
Outside the lab, Noury enjoys playing volleyball, camping, cooking, and experimenting with coffee.
Jian Kwon
Research Technician
Hunter Bennis
Lab Assistant
Lab Alumni
Ahmed Elrashidy
Lab Assistant
Vedansh Dave
Research Technician
Colin Choudhary
Lab Assistant
Isabella Tidd
Lab Assistant
Isabella is graduating from University of Maryland, Baltimore County in spring 2023 with a B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Psychology. She plans to pursue higher education in Neuroscience. In the future, she would like to use network modeling to investigate neural circuits that may underlie potential causes of neuropsychiatric disorders. Her specific research interests include substance use disorders and other comorbid mental illnesses.
In her spare time, Isabella can be found at local rock concerts, exploring new restaurants, and taking care of her cats, Dewey, Nala, and Pippy!
Tara Foley
Research Technician
Tara is an aspiring physician-scientist who graduated from Johns Hopkins with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2021. She's currently applying to graduate programs with an interest in neural development, especially regarding psychiatric disorders. In the future, she hopes to use this knowledge to develop better pediatric treatments.
Outside of the lab, she likes to play soccer, ski, read, and cuddle with her dog, Astro.
Azriel Weinreb
Lab Assistant
Azriel recently graduated from Towson University with a Master’s in Applied Physics. He began working for the Wolff Lab in October 2021 helping with data analysis. His long-term goal is to pursue a career in medical physics.
Outside of the lab Azriel enjoys gaming and hanging out with his cats Toby and Stanley.
Maegan Jennings
Lab Assistant
Maegan graduated from Towson University in 2020 with a Bachelors degree in Physics. She is working on data analysis in Python at the Wolff Lab, and is taking classes towards her Masters degree in Applied Physics.
Outside of work, her hobbies include indoor rock climbing, reading, and painting.
Eliana Abel
Lab Assistant
Ellie is an upcoming senior at the University of Maryland, planning to graduate in May 2022. She is studying Psychology and Neuroscience. Ellie started working in the Wolff lab around April 2021, helping with behavioral data analysis and the construction of behavioral training and electrophysiological recording equipment. Her main interests of study include mental disorders and behavioral pharmacology. Her goal after college is to obtain her PhD in behavioral pharmacology and get involved in psychedelic therapy research for mental illnesses.
Outside of the lab, Ellie enjoys skiing, spending time at the beach and going to concerts.
Eva Abel
Lab Assistant
Eva is a rising senior at Hamilton College. She is a
Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major and a Physics minor. Eva is a pre-med student, and aims to attend medical school after graduating from Hamilton. Eva began working in the Wolff Lab in June 2021, constructing the equipment and boxes utilized in the animals’ training, and electronically tracking the animals’ behaviors.
Outside of the lab, Eva enjoys spending her time outdoors, with animals, and volunteering. She is also a member and captain of Hamilton’s women’s lacrosse team.
Dominic Isaacs
Rotation Student
I am an engineer and PhD student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. I received my BS and MS degrees in bioengineering from the University of Colorado, specializing in computational cell biology and advanced light microscopy techniques to study electrophysiology. I have also spent time studying dopamine neurotransmission in the ventral striatum of awake animals during motivated behaviors and drug addiction models. I joined the (brand new!) Wolff lab as a rotation student where I will be helping the team design and build long term enclosures for rats to study how stereotyped motor sequences are learned, maintained, and executed. I'll also be helping to set up electrophysiological recordings in the lab.
My free time is spent doing a bunch of things. I read, mountain bike, snowboard if I can, and play guitar. I also like to (try) and learn about practical electronics.
Chris Phung
Lab Assistant