Matthew Johnson, Ph.D.

Matthew B. Johnson is a developmental neurobiologist and a senior group leader at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad. His group investigates the interactions between neurodevelopmental critical periods, neuroimmune signaling pathways, and genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The team employs a broad range of techniques and human and animal model systems to understand how genetic risk influences adolescent brain development and psychiatric vulnerability. Johnson is a co-investigator of the NIMH-funded Conte Center for Neuroimmune Studies at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and is biology lead for the Psychiatric Biomarkers Consortium, established by the Stanley Center in 2018 with the goal of discovering fluid molecular biomarkers to enable industry clinical development for psychiatric disorders.

Prior to joining the Broad Institute in 2017, Johnson completed postdoctoral training in neuroscience and genetics with Christopher Walsh at Boston Children's Hospital, where he researched the developmental contributions of distinct stem cell populations to the complex structure of the cerebral cortex.

Johnson obtained his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Yale University working in the lab of Nenad Sestan, and earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Brown University.

Contact Matthew Johnson via email at johnson@broadinstitute.org.