Sonia Garel is a developmental neurobiologist. She leads a team at the Institut of Biology of the Ecole Normale Superieure (IBENS) in Paris and is a Professor at the College de France. Her work explores the mechanisms that control the choreography of cerebral circuit assembly during early development, with a particular focus on the roles of microglia and their interactions with the immune system and environmental signals. 

After obtaining a PhD in developmental biology in Paris, she did a postdoctoral training at UCSF before joining the IBENS, where she has headed the “Brain Development and Plasticity” team since 2008. Her research has been recognized with several recognitions including the European Young Investigator Award (EURYI), the Antoine Lacassagne Prize, the Prize of the NRJ Foundation and of the Fondation Roger de Spoelberch. Sonia Garel is an ERC laureate, a member of EMBO, a Professor at College de France on the ‘Neurobiology and Immunity’ Chair, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences.