Evan Schaffer is assistant professor of neuroscience at the Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His lab uses mathematical tools to understand distributed computations in the brain, identify how these computations change with learning and identify how feedback from the body impacts cognition. Schaffer received his Ph.D. at the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, in Larry Abbott’s lab at Columbia University. He completed his postdoctoral work in Richard Axel’s Lab at Columbia University

Evan Schaffer
Assistant professor of neuroscience
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Selected articles
- “Inhibitory stabilization of the cortical network underlies visual surround suppression” | Neuron
- “A complex-valued firing-rate model that approximates the dynamics of spiking networks” | PLoS Computational Biology
- “Odor perception on the two sides of the brain: Consistency despite randomness” | Neuron
- “The spatial and temporal structure of neural activity across the fly brain” | Nature Communications
- “Behavioral fingerprinting of the naked mole-rat uncovers signatures of eusociality and social touch” | bioRxiv
Explore more from The Transmitter
As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap
Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgrounds—and they need your support.

As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap
Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgrounds—and they need your support.
Split gene therapy delivers promise in mice modeling Dravet syndrome
The new approach overcomes viral packaging limitations by delivering SCN1A piecemeal and stitching it together in target cells.

Split gene therapy delivers promise in mice modeling Dravet syndrome
The new approach overcomes viral packaging limitations by delivering SCN1A piecemeal and stitching it together in target cells.
U.S. human data repositories ‘under review’ for gender identity descriptors
Researchers associated with the repositories received an email from the U.S. National Institutes of Health in March noting that they must comply with a 20 January executive order from President Trump that recognizes only two sexes: male and female.

U.S. human data repositories ‘under review’ for gender identity descriptors
Researchers associated with the repositories received an email from the U.S. National Institutes of Health in March noting that they must comply with a 20 January executive order from President Trump that recognizes only two sexes: male and female.