Our lab strives to be open and welcoming to individuals from a variety of backgrounds and experiences by actively maintaining a collaborative lab culture that emphasizes psychologically healthy attitudes and practices.
Psychology Today | American Psychological Association
As educators, we have a special responsibility to aid and protect our trainees, beyond simply enabling their scientific and professional edification.
UIUC Psychological Services | Child Abuse Prevention
The Miller Lab is interested in understanding the fundamental organization of the cerebral cortex as a laminated feature of the mammalian brain. Specifically, we test hypotheses of neurobiological growth and scaling by obtaining high resolution quantitative estimates of the cellular composition and connectivity of circuits across the lifespan among closely related species. Ultimately, we seek to use this knowledge to develop and validate the biomarkers of brain organization that we currently need, not only to identify injured/diseased from healthy tissue in pursuit of medical diagnostics, but to simultaneously reveal the evolutionary history of the human brain, and our place in the universe.
JOIN THE TEAM?
We are actively recruiting at this time.
Email me at << millerdj@illinois.edu >> with an
Principal Investigator
As an evolutionary neurobiologist, my teaching directly counters human-centric narratives of cognition and behavior. Accordingly, my goal is to encourage students to contemplate the similarity of animal and human behavior within our shared global ecology. To help students learn this perspective, I draw from my interdisciplinary research on the multi-scale relationships in the brain. In particular, I help students learn how to carefully use and interpret quantitative methods to arrive at reproducible results. I am passionate about helping students from a wide range of backgrounds engage meaningfully with scientific research by helping them understand how neurobiology drives behavior, while also introducing them to best practices in open science.
SIB Faculty Profile | NSP Faculty Profile | Beckman Faculty Profile
Twitter | LinkedIn | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar
PhD Trainees
Hi! My name is Simran Singh, and I am a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the Miller lab. I am interested in identifying non-invasive biomarkers of the auditory fields within the mammalian cerebral cortex. I will use the deep learning algorithm our is developing to produce a quantitative histological map of the auditory cortex and co-register it to ultra-high field MRI scans to mark each region of the auditory cortex. Outside of lab, I enjoy baking and outdoors activities, such as hiking.
Hi! My name is Siqi Han, and I am a 1st year Ph.D. student in the Miller lab. My research interests lie in the evolution, organization and reorganization of the somatosensory cortex in mammals. I also enjoy philosophical readings and video games in my leisure time.
Undergraduate Trainees
My name is Maddy Caliendo and I am a senior majoring in Integrative Biology with a minor in Chemistry. In the lab, I am focusing on the cell and myelin data to help with the creation of the deep learning algorithm to be used with MRI. Following graduation, I hope to attend medical school and as of now, I am interested in anesthesiology. In my free time, I love to dance and I am currently president of Velocity Dance Team.
Meghana Mangalvedhe – Meghana Mangalvedhe is a junior in bioengineering on the computational and systems biology track. She is getting a minor in applied statistics, and is focusing on going into industry after graduation to work in biostatistics, data science, and consulting in healthcare.
Mia Rode – sophomore in Molecular and Cellular Biology
Makenna Pinkham – sophomore in the School of Chemical Sciences, Majoring in Chemistry and Psychology.
My name is Mustafa Khan, a sophomore majoring in Brain and Cognitive Sciences on the Pre-Health Track. I hope to work in the field of Neuroscience after graduation.
My name is Adeyinka Omole (twin of Adedamola) and I am currently a junior majoring in Integrative Biology, pursuing a minor in Child Health and Well-Being. I have a major interest on the effect of trauma on the brain. I also really enjoy singing in my free time and am a member of the University’s Varsity Women’s Glee Club. In the future, I plan on attending medical school and pursuing a career as a Pediatrician or a Pediatric Psychiatrist.
Adedamola Omole (twin of Adeyinka) I am a junior majoring in Integrative Biology. My interests include learning about different physiological disorders. I enjoy singing and am apart of the University Women’s Glee Club and I also work at the Child Development Laboratory on campus. I aspire to attend medical school after Undergrad.
Sola Adeyiga, Brain and Cognitive Sciences within Psychology
EIS Lab 