Born in Israel, Matan Golan earned his PhD in Animal Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, working with Prof. Berta Levavi-Sivan on the topic of fish reproductive endocrinology. In2015, as a Marie-Curie postdoc fellow, he moved to the lab of Dr. Patrice Mollard in Montpellier, a pioneer of the study of pituitary cell networks, to pursue his post doctoral training focusing on the development of the GnRH system. In 2019 Matan joined the Institute of Animal Sciences at the Agricultural Research Organization in Israel and established his own research lab. As of 2025 Matan is a faculty member at the Department of Animal Sciences in the Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (https://animalscience.agri.huji.ac.il/people/matan-golan).

Matan's research group focuses on fish neuroendocrinology with the aim of designing efficient manipulations for controlling growth, development and reproduction in commercially important fish species. In particular, the lab is interested in the development and function of two endocrine systems: the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) circuit that controls reproduction and the thyroid hormone axis which controls metabolism, growth, and larval development. The work in the lab relies heavily on the use of transgenic fish, especially zebrafish and tilapia for which efficient transgenesis pipelines have been developed. The lab also studies other commercially important species with long larval periods such as mullets (Mugil cephalus) and bass (Morone hybrids)with the aim of relieving bottlenecks in the larval rearing of marine species. Prominent discoveries in the lab include functional cell networks used by GnRH neurons to control their migration into the brain and the discovery of the hatching hormone in fish.  

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