Cécile Charrier is an INSERM Director of Research at the Institute of Biology of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (IBENS) in Paris, where she heads the team “Development and Plasticity of Synapses”. She received her PhD from University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, and conducted her postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Research Institute in California. Her lab investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the development and plasticity of cortical circuits, with a particular emphasis on their regulation by human-specific genes and molecular pathways linked to human evolution. Her research aims to understand how human synapses differ from those of other species, and how the specificities of human neuron cell biology impact the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. Cécile is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant (2018) and an ERC Consolidator Grant (2024).