Before starting his lab at Purdue, Matt earned a B.S. in Political Science and Kinesiology at Miami University in Ohio. He then conducted graduate research at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT with Dr. Ralda Nehme, in collaboration with Professor Steven McCarroll at Harvard Medical School and Professor Fiona Watt at King’s College London, where he earned his PhD in Neurogenetics in 2023. During his time there, Matt helped develop novel experimental systems that enable large-scale phenotyping using in vitro (stem cell-based) systems, bridging the gap between human genetics and cell biology. These approaches allow researchers to study hundreds of individuals simultaneously in living biological systems, which is crucial for translational genomics efforts to link complex trait genetics to underlying biological and cellular mechanisms.

 

At Purdue University, Matt’s research program builds on the advancements from his training to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying genetic risk for psychiatric disorders and to identify genetic factors that mediate drug response. His lab primarily focuses on using single-cell phenotyping (RNA, morphology, chromatin architecture) in combination with stem cell biology to link genetic variants to their functional outcomes.