Sophie Martin earned her Diploma in 1998 from the University of Lausanne for her study of chromatin organization in the laboratory of Dr Susan Gasser at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC). She then joined the group of Dr Daniel St Johnston at the Wellcome/CR UK Gurdon Institute to study the molecular mechanisms of cell polarization and mRNA localization using Drosophila as model system and received her PhD in 2003 from the University of Cambridge. She obtained postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr Fred Chang at Columbia University in New York, studying cell polarization and the cytoskeleton in the fission yeast. In 2007, she joined the Center for Integrative Genomics at the University of Lausanne as a Swiss National Science Foundation Professor. She was appointed Associate Professor in 2010 and Full Professor in 2018 at the Department of Fundamental Microbiology (DMF), of which she was the director between 2020 and 2022. In 2023, she joined the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MOCEL) at the University of Geneva as Full Professor.
She was selected as an EMBO Young Investigator in 2009, received the WICB Junior Award from the American Society for Cell Biology in 2012, and the Friedrich Miescher award and the EMBO Gold medal in 2014. She was elected EMBO member in 2020. She received three consecutive ERC grants, at starting, consolidator and advanced levels.
Brief CV
Born 19th October 1975
Married, two children born in 2007 and 2010
Professional path
Since 2023 : Full Professor at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Geneva
2020-2022: Director of the Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne
2018-2022: Full Professor at the Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne
2010-2018: Associate Professor at the Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne
2007-2010: Assistant Professor SNF at the Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne
2003-2007: Postdoctoral training at Columbia University, New York, USA
Advisor: Dr Fred Chang, Department of Microbiology,
Subject: Microtubule-actin interactions in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe
2003: PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK
Advisor: Dr Daniel St Johnston, The Wellcome Trust / Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, Cambridge
Subject: Molecular and genetic analysis of cell polarisation, mRNA localisation and axis formation during Drosophila oogenesis
1998: Diploma in Biology (MA) from the University of Lausanne
Advisor: Dr Susan Gasser, Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC)
Subject: Role of Ku proteins in nuclear organization and silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
1997: Degree in Biology (BA) from the University of Lausanne
Certificates in cellular biochemistry and molecular immunology
3rd year of BA spent at University of Zurich
Honors
2021: ERC Advanced grant
2020: Elected EMBO member
2017: SNF Bonus of Excellence
2016: ERC Consolidator grant
2014: EMBO Gold Medal
2014: Friedrich Miescher award
2012: ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology) WICB (Women in Cell Biology) Junior Award
2010: ERC Starting grant
2009: EMBO Young Investigator Award