Joshua Patrick Johansen
Date of birth: June 23rd, 1973
Current Position
Head, Laboratory for the Neural Circuitry of Learning andMemory and Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Tokyo
RIKEN Center for Brain Science
2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan

Education
10/2007-8/2011

New York University
Postdoctoral fellowship

6/2007

University of California, Los Angeles
Completed Ph.D. in Neuroscience

1996-1998

University of Colorado, Boulder
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, 1998, Magna Cum Laude

Awards and Honors
2008

Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA (NIH) postdoctoral fellowship

2007

UCLA Kavan Award for excellence in neuroscience research

2006

Society for Neuroscience Travel Award

2004

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

1998

Honors Thesis, Magna Cum Laude Psychology, CU Boulder

1998

Howard Hughes Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

1996

Undergraduate Research Opportunities FellowshipResearch Background2018-present

RIKEN Center for Brain Science
Team Leader

2015-present

University of Tokyo
Visiting Assistant Professor

2011-2018

RIKEN Brain Science InstituteTeam Leader

2007-2011

New York University
Worked in the lab of Joseph LeDoux examining aversive teaching
signal regulation of amygdala plasticity and fear learning using
optogenetic, immunocytochemical, electrophysiological,
molecular and behavioral pharmacological approaches.

2003-2007

University of California Los Angeles
Worked in the lab of Tad Blair studying aversive teaching signal
processing and plasticity in the amygdala and periaqueductal
gray using electrophysiological, pharmacological and behavioral
approaches.

1998-2003

University of California San Francisco
Worked in the lab of Howard Fields studying neural mechanismsof pain and aversive teaching signals using behavioral andelectrophysiological techniques.

1997-1998

University of Colorado, Boulder
Student researcher in the Linda Watkins/Steven Maier laboratory.
Studied the effects of stress on pain modulatory systems.

1997-1998

University of Colorado, Boulder
Student researcher in David Miklowitz’s laboratory conducting
research on bipolar patients and their families.

Publications
Yeh, L.-F., Watanabe, M., Sulkes-Cuevas, J. Johansen, J.P. Dysregulation of aversive signaling
pathways: a novel circuit endophenotype for pain and anxiety disorders. Current Opinion inNeurobiology 2017, 48: 37-44
Uematsu, A., Tan, B.Z., Ycu, E.A., Sulkes, J., Koivumaa, J., Junyent, F., Kremer, E.J., Witten, I.B.,Deisseroth, K. and Johansen, J.P. Modular Organization of the Brainstem Noradrenaline
System Coordinates Opposing Learning States. Nature Neuroscience. 2017, 20(11) 1602-1611
Featured in News and Views in Nature Neuroscience 20(11), 1517-1519
Ozawa, T., Ycu, E.A., Kumar, A., Yeh. L-F., Ahmed, T., Koivumaa, J., and Johansen, J.P. A feedbackneural circuit for calibrating aversive memory strength. Nature Neuroscience 2017, 20(1): 90-97
Schiff, H.C., Johansen, J.P., Hou, M., Bush, D.E., Smith, E.K., Klein, J.E., LeDoux, J.E., Sears, R.M. βAdrenergic Receptors Regulate the Acquisition and Consolidation Phases of Aversive Memory
Formation Through Distinct, Temporally Regulated Signaling Pathways.
Neuropsychopharmacology 2017, 42(4): 895-903
Madarasz, T.J., Diaz-Mataix, L., Akhand, O., Ycu, E.A., LeDoux, J.E., Johansen, J.P. Evaluation ofambiguous associations in the amygdala by learning the structure of the environment. Nature
Neuroscience, 2016, 19, 965–972
Harasawa, I., Johansen, J.P., Fields, H.L., Porreca, F., Meng, I.D. Alterations in the rostral
ventromedial medulla after the selective ablation of mu-opioid receptor expressing neurons.
Pain 2016, 157(1): 166-173
Uematsu, A., Tan, B.Z., Johansen, J.P. Projection specificity in heterogeneous locus coeruleus
cell populations: implications for learning and memory. Learning & Memory 2015 22:444-451
Johansen, J.P., Diaz-Mataix, L., Hamanaka, H. Ozawa, T., Ycu, E., Koivumaa, J., Kumar, A., Hou,M., Deisseroth, K., Boyden, E. & LeDoux, J.E. Hebbian and neuromodulatory mechanisms interact
to trigger associative memory formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2014,111(51):E5584-92
Herry, C & Johansen, J.P. Encoding of fear learning and memory in distributed neural circuits.
Nature Neuroscience 2014, 17(12):1644-54
Ozawa, T. & Johansen, J.P. Neural circuits: interacting interneurons regulate fear learning.
Current Biology 2014, 24 (15):R690-3
Johansen, J.P. Anxiety is the sum of its parts. Nature 2013, 496 (7444):174-5
Johansen, J.P., Wolf, S.B.E., Luthi, A. & LeDoux, J.E. Controlling the elements: an optogenetic
approach to understanding the neural circuits of fear. Biological Psychiatry 2012, 71(12): 1053-60
Johansen, J.P., Ostroff, L., Cain, C.K., LeDoux, J.E. Molecular mechanisms of fear learning andmemory. Cell 2011, 147: 509-524
McNally, G.P., Johansen, J.P. & Blair, H.T. Placing prediction into the fear circuit. Trends inNeuroscience 2011, 13: 283-292
Johansen, J.P., Tarpley, J.W., Ledoux, J.E., Blair, H.T. Neural substrates for expectancy-modulated
fear learning in the amygdala and periaqueductal gray. Nature Neuroscience 2010, 13: 979-986
Johansen, J.P., Hamanaka, H., Monfils, M.H., Behnia, R., Deisseroth, K., Blair, H.T., LeDoux, J.E.
Optical activation of lateral amygdala pyramidal cells instructs associative fear learning.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2010, 107(28): 12692-12697
Featured in Nature Photonics 4, 581 2010
Schiller, D & Johansen, J.P. Prelimbic prefrontal neurons drive fear expression: a clue forextinction--reconsolidation interactions. Journal of Neuroscience 2009; 29(43):13432-4
Meng, I. D., Johansen, J. P., Fields, H. L. Kappa opioids inhibit physiologically identified
medullary pain modulating neurons and reduce morphine antinociception. Journal ofNeurophysiology 2005; 93(3): 1138-44
Johansen, J.P. & Fields, H.L. Glutamatergic activation of anterior cingulate cortex produces anaversive teaching signal. Nature Neuroscience 2004; 7(4):398-403.
Meng, I.D. & Johansen, J. P. Antinociception and modulation of rostral ventromedial medulla
neuronal activity by local infusion of a cannabinoid agonist. Neuroscience 2004; 124(3):685-93
Johansen, J. P., Fields, H L, Manning, B M. The affective component of pain in rodents: Direct
evidence for a contribution of the anterior cingulate cortex. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences 2001; 98(14)8077-8082.
Featured in Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2, 536 (2001)
Frerking, M; Schmitz, D; Zhou, Q; Johansen, J.; Nicoll, RA. Kainate receptors depress excitatory
synaptic transmission at CA3 -> CA1 synapses in the hippocampus via a direct presynapticaction. Journal of Neuroscience, May 1, 2001, 21(9):2958-2966.

Invited Lectures
January, 2018
November, 2017

Winter Conference on Brain Research Symposium (Chair, Whistler,Canada) Instructive signals for aversive learning and memory
Society for Neuroscience Symposium (Chair, Washington
D.C.,USA): From salient experience to learning and memory:
instructive signals for aversion and reward “Feedback circuits forcalibrating aversive learning signals”

September, 2017
September, 2017
September, 2017
September, 2017
August, 2017
August, 2017
June, 2013

April, 2017
February, 2017
January, 2017
December, 2016

November, 2016
August, 2016
July, 2016

July, 2016
June, 2016

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston, Massachusetts)“Brain circuits for triggering and reversing emotional memories”
New York University (New York, USA) “Brain circuits fortriggering and reversing emotional memories”
Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science “European Brain, Behaviour Society Meeting (Bilbao, Spain)"Distinct Noradrenaline Cell Populations Coordinate Emotionaland Flexible Learning States"
Hokkaido University Summer School “Teaching the Brain to Fear”
and “Brain Circuits for Fear and Safety Learning”
Gordon Conference: Amygdala in health and disease(Massachusetts, USA) "Distinct Noradrenaline Cell Populations
Coordinate Emotional and Flexible Learning States"
Spring Hippocampal Research Conference Symposium (Chaired,Taormina, Italy): Connecting ensemble activity in the hippocampusto behavior “Hippocampal encoding during aversive decisionmaking”
Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (Bali, Indonesia)“Distinct noradrenaline cell populations coordinate the balance
between fear and extinction learning”
University of California, San Francisco Invited Talk (San Francisco,USA) “Brain circuits for triggering and reversing emotional
memories”
Boston University Invited Talk (Boston, USA) “Brain Circuits fortriggering and reversing emotional memories
Arrowhead 10 years on: What have we learned and what is there
still to learn about the neural bases of decision-making? (Sydney,Australia) “Meta-organization in the locus coeruleus noradrenalinesystem coordinates emotional and flexible learning states”
Nature Conference on Neural Circuitry of Emotion (Shenzhen,China) “Multiplexed signaling across distinct noradrenaline cell
populations coordinates opposing emotional learning functions”
Tsukuba Global Science Week Meeting (Tsukuba, Japan)“Meta-organization in the brainstem noradrenaline systemcoordinates adaptive learning”
Japan Neuroscience Society Meeting (Chaired, Yokohama, Japan):Long range circuit interactions controlling learned behaviors“Functional specificity based on efferent connectivity in the locus
coeruleus noradrenaline system”
FENS Symposium (Chaired, Copenhagen, Denmark): Fearextinction: from engrams to circuits “Regulation of fear &extinction learning through distinct neuromodulatory circuits”
Pain Mechanisms and Therapeutics (Taormina, Italy)“Neural circuit mechanisms for triggering and controlling theJune, 2016
February, 2016

January, 2016
December, 2015
October, 2015
September, 2015
August, 2015
August, 2015
July, 2015
June, 2015
January, 2015
January, 2015
December, 2014
October, 2014
October, 2014

strength of aversive memories”
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Monterotondo, Italy)“Neural circuit mechanisms for the initiation and adaptive control
of aversive associative learning”
CiNet Decision Making Symposium (Osaka, Japan) Neuralmechanisms of decision making: achievements and new directions“Neural circuit mechanisms for triggering and reversing aversivememories”
Frontier Brain Research Seminar Series (University of Toyama)“Brain circuits for triggering and reversing fear memories”
International Symposium on Optogenetics (Tokyo, Japan)“A feedback neural circuit for calibrating memory strength”
University of Arizona (Tucson, USA)
“Neural circuit mechanisms for triggering, regulating and reducing
fear memories”
Tohoku Forum for Creativity: Memory and Mind (Sendai, Japan)“Bidirectional control of fear memories through distinct functional
populations of locus coeruleus noradrenaline neurons”
Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, USA)
“Neural circuit mechanisms for triggering, regulating and reducing
fear memories”
Gordon Conference: Amygdala in health and disease(Massachusetts, USA) “Functional and anatomical specificity inlocus coeruleus noradrenaline neurons”
Japan Neuroscience Society Symposium (Kobe, Japan)“Functional and anatomical specificity in locus coeruleus
noradrenaline neurons”
Seoul National University (Seoul, Korea)“A distributed circuit mechanism for triggering and setting thestrength of fear memories”
Universite Paris Descartes (Paris, France)“A distributed circuit mechanism for controlling associative
memory strength”
Weizmann Institute (Rehovot, Israel)“A distributed circuit mechanism for controlling associative
memory strength”
CiNet (Osaka, Japan)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Friedrich Miescher Institute (Basel, Switzerland)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strength

September, 2014
September, 2014
August, 2014

July, 2014
June, 2014
May, 2014
May, 2014
April, 2014
January, 2014

January, 2014

December, 2013

December, 2013
November, 2013of fear memories”
Pavlovian Society Meeting (Seattle, USA)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Japan Neuroscience Meeting Symposium (Yokohama, Japan)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry Meeting (Kaosiung,Taiwan“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Tokyo University (Tokyo, Japan)“Teaching the brain to fear: from neural circuits and coding tobehavior”
iCeMS Conference (Kyoto, Japan)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Biological Psychiatry Symposium (New York, USA)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (Daejon, Korea)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Korea Institute of Science & Technology (Seoul, Korea)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Winter Workshop on Mechanisms of Brain and Mind (Rusutsu,Japan)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Winter Conference on the Neurobiology of Learning andMemory (Utah, USA)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Symposium on in-vivo Monitoring of Molecules in Neuroscience(Nagoya, Japan)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Molecular Biology Society of Japan Symposium (Kobe, Japan)“A neural circuit mechanism for triggering and setting the strengthof fear memories”
Society for Neuroscience mini-symposium (chaired): Teaching
Signals: Understanding the Neural Systems That Trigger Learning
and Change Behavior (San Diego, USA)

September, 2013
July, 2013
July, 2013
June, 2013
March, 2013
February, 2013
February, 2013
October, 2012
September, 2012
May, 2012
May, 2012
February, 2012
February, 2012
January, 2012
January, 2012
September, 2011
September, 2011
September, 2011
February, 2011
November, 2010
November, 2009
October, 2009
April, 2009

“Teaching signals for amygdala plasticity mediating fear learning”
Pavlovian Society Meeting (Austin, Texas)“Teaching the amygdala to fear: a role for multiple learning rules”
Gordon Conference: Amygdala in Health and Disease(Massachusetts, USA)
“Teaching the Amygdala to Fear”
RIKEN Summer Program (Wako, Japan)“Teaching the Amygdala to Fear”
Spring Hippocampal Research Conference (Taormina, Italy)“Amygdala prediction error coding triggers associative learningand sets memory strength”
Scripps Research Institute (San Diego, USA)
“Teaching the amygdala to fear”
Columbia University (New York City, USA)
“Prediction error coding in amygdala neurons triggers associative
learning and regulates memory strength”
Molecular Cellular Cognition Society Meeting (Melbourne,Australia) “Teaching the brain to fear”
Harvard University“Teaching the brain to fear”
National Institute of Physiological Sciences NIPS conference,“Teaching the brain to fear”
Kyoto University, “Teaching the brain to fear”
Osaka University, “Teaching the brain to fear”
University of California, Los Angeles, “Triggering and degrading
associative memory formation”
Nagoya University, “Teaching the brain to fear”
Jikei University, “Aversive teaching signals: how the brainremembers bad things”
University of Toyama, “Teaching the brain to fear”
INSERM, Universite Paris Descartes, “Triggering associative
memory formation”
University Paris-Sud, “Triggering associative memory formation”
IDIBAPS, Barcelona, “Triggering associative memory formation”
Janelia Farm Research Center, “Triggering associative memoryformation”
Riken Brain Science Institute, “Triggering associative memoryformation”
Ponce School of Medicine, “Teaching the amygdala to fear:mechanisms of instructive signaling during associative fear
conditioning”
University of New England, “Teaching the brain to fear”
University of California Los Angeles, “Punishing the brain: novel

October, 2008
September, 2008
March, 2008
November, 2006
January, 2004
January, 2003
January, 2001

approaches to understanding aversively motivated learning”
New York University, “Teaching without the carrot: a neuralmechanism for instructive signaling during associative fear
learning”
University of California San Francisco, Gallo Center, “A neuralmechanism for instructive signaling during associative fear
learning”
University Paris Sud, “Teaching the amygdala to fear: neuralmechanisms of instructive signaling for associative emotional
learning”
University of California Los Angeles, Neuroscience retreat“Aversive prediction error coding in amygdala neurons during fearconditioning”
California Institute of Technology,“The anterior cingulate cortex: teaching without the carrot”
University of California San Francisco, Pain Interest Group“Functional and anatomical analysis of an aversive brain circuit”
University of California San Francisco, Pain Research Group“The affective/motivational component of pain in rodents: direct
evidence for a contribution of the anterior cingulate cortex”

Teaching and Mentoring Experience
2017-present

PhD thesis advisor to University of Tokyo graduate student Jessica
Cueves-Sulkes

2015-present

PhD thesis advisor to University of Tokyo graduate student LiFeng Yeh

2015-present

PhD thesis advisor to University of Tokyo graduate student
Mayumi Watanabe

2010-2015

PhD thesis co-mentor to NYU graduate student Tamas Madarasz

2009-2013

PhD thesis co-mentor to NYU graduate student Hillary Schiff

2009-2011

Research mentor to NYU undergraduate student Sunny Roy

2008-2009

Research mentor to post-graduate student Doug Girard

2004-2007

Started and ran the Neuroscience Graduate Forum at UCLA2006

Course lecturer in “Neural control of behavior” undergraduate
Course at UCLA

2006

Teaching Assistant for graduate level “Systems neuroscience”course

Reviewer and Journal Service
Journals: Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience, Nature
Communications, eLife, Science Advances, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Neuroscience
Research, Neuroscience, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (also on Editorial Board),
Molecular Pain, Faculty of 1000 (Faculty Member)