| Sophie Martin | |
| Birth Name: | Sophie Geneviève Elisabeth Martin |
| Workplaces: | Columbia University University of Lausanne |
| Alma Mater: | University of Lausanne University of Cambridge |
| Fields: | Cell polarity Cell fusion Cytoskeleton Cell cycle |
| Thesis Title: | Molecular and genetic analysis of cell polarisation, mRNA localisation and axis formation during Drosophila oogenesis |
| Thesis Url: | https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.620714 |
| Thesis Year: | 2002 |
| Awards: | EMBO Gold Medal (2014) EMBO Member (2020) |
Sophie Geneviève Elisabeth Martin Benton is a Swiss biologist who is Professor and Director of the Department of Fundamental Microbiology at the University of Lausanne. Her research investigates the molecular processes that underpin cellular fusion. She was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal in 2014.
Martin was an undergraduate student at the University of Lausanne, where she studied the organisation of chromatin with Susan M. Gasser. She was based in the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research. After graduating, Martin joined Daniel St Johnston at the University of Cambridge, where she investigated the molecular mechanism of cell polarisation and the localisation of mRNA. She earned her PhD in 2002.[1]
Martin moved to Columbia University, where she worked on cell polarisation and fission.[2] In 2007, Martin returned to the University of Lausanne, where she was made a Swiss National Science Foundation Professor at the Center for Integrative Genomics. She was promoted to full Professor in 2018.
Martin was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator Grant to study cellular fusion.[3] The fusion of cells is critical in fertilisation and development, and influences the formation of bone, tissue regeneration and cancer. Such fusion requires communication between cells, followed by polarisation, self-assembly and membrane juxtaposition.[4] Her ERC Consolidator grant was focused on cellular fusion in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a simple yeast model. The cells are haploids and fuse to form a diploid zygote. Martin studies the communication between cells and the mechanisms that underpin actin fusion focus formation.
Martin is married to biologist .