Matthew Rowan's research focuses on uncovering mechanisms that confer cellular and synaptic resilience in aging and neurodegenerative disease. His work also explores ways to unify changes at the synaptic and blood-based biomarker levels, and develop novel approaches to improve cognition across neurodegenerative and other brain diseases. The Rowan Lab combines patch-clamp electrophysiology, confocal and two-photon imaging, omics, and custom gene therapeutic tools to target and interrogate specific cell types in the brain. His research is supported by the National Institutes of Health. Rowan provides structured training programs for faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students in advanced electrophysiology, viral delivery techniques, and high throughput neurophysiology methods. As director of the Advanced Neurotechnology Innovation Initiative, he supports the development of shared advanced imaging resources and gene therapeutic tools and methods to target specific cell populations in the brain. Before joining FIU in 2026, Rowan completed postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Neuroscience and led a research laboratory at Emory University School of Medicine.
research interests
Synaptic function/physiology; Cortical/Hippocampal/Cerebellar circuit function; Inhibitory interneurons, the role of inhibition on plasticity; Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD pathology models; Patch-clamp electrophysiology; Cell-type-specific proteomics and targeting tools; Advanced optical imaging, two-photon and voltage imaging