Martin Giurfa

Current status:

Exceptional-Class Professor of Neurosciences - University Paul Sabatier (UPS) Toulouse III.

Founder of the Research Center on Animal Cognition (UMR 5169), CNRS – University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III.

In The French academic system, the Exceptional-Class Professorship is the highest degree, which is above the Full-Professorship. It is granted at the national level (and not by a local University) by the National University Council.

The Institut Universitaire de France is the equivalent of a French Professorial Academy of Sciences. University Professors are elected as members by international committees for 5-year terms and are dispensed of teaching duties during this term. Their research activities are also generously funded.

Research keywords:
Invertebrates; Insects; Bees; Ants; Drosophila

Cognition; Learning; Memory; Perception; Olfaction; Vision

Integrative Neurosciences; Cognitive Neurosciences; Neuroethology.

Research Topics:
My research focuses on invertebrate learning and memory at different organization levels, from behavior to molecules. I use 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' approaches and research tools from neurobiology, neuroethology, experimental psychology, computational neurosciences and molecular biology in order to understand the neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying associative learning in bees and other insects. The pluridisciplinary approach adopted in my research, which is also at the core of the institute I have founded in Toulouse, allows a better characterization of the cognitive richness of insects and provides a multi-facetted view of cognition, which can be hardly understood from a single perspective.

Education:
·       1997: Habilitation degree of the Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany..

·       1994-1996: Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow (mentor Randolf Menzel); Institute of Neurobiology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

·       1990-1993: DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) postdoctoral fellow (mentor Randolf Menzel); Institute of Neurobiology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

·       1987-1990: PhD in Neurosciences (mentors: Josué Nunez & Hector Maldonado); Faculty of Natural & Exact Sciences, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Summa Cum Laude.

·       1986: Master in Neurosciences; Faculty of Natural & Exact Sciences, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Previous positions:
2002-2003: Full Professor (1st class) of Neurosciences - UPS Toulouse III, Toulouse, France.

2001-2002: Full Professor (2nd Class) of Neurosciences - UPS Toulouse III, Toulouse, France.

2000-2001: Associate Professor (C2). Neurobiology, Free University of Berlin, Germany.

1998-2000: Assistant Professor (C1). Neurobiology, Free University of Berlin, Germany.

1989-1990: Tutor in Behavioral Physiology & Neurosciences, Faculty of Natural & Exact Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1986-1989: Instructor in Behavioral Physiology, Faculty of Natural & Exact Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Honors and distinctions:
·       2019: ERC Advanced Grant Awardee.

·       2019: Re-elected Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France.

·       2018-now: Elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium.

·       2007-now: Elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, Germany.

·       2017-now: Honors Professor of the Fujian University of Agriculture and Forestry, Fuzhou, China.

·       2015-now: Honors Professor of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

·       2012-2017: Elected Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France.

·       2013: International Prize of Science & Technology "Raices" of the Argentinean Government.

·       2003-2007: Elected Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France.

·       2004: Prize "Buenos Aires Piensa" (Thinking Buenos Aires) of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

·       2003-now: Elected member of Faculty of 1000 - Section Behavioral Neurosciences.

·       1995: Prize King Baudouin for Young Scientific Talents of the International Foundation for Science (Stockholm, Sweden) and the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium).

·       1994-1996: Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship.

·       1990-1993: DAAD Postdoctoral research fellowship.

·       1990: Third World Young Investigator Award of the International Foundation for Science (Stockholm, Sweden).

Principal responsibilities (national and international):
·      2003- 2017: Director & Founder of the Research Center on Animal Cognition (UMR 5169), CNRS – University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III.

·       2014-now: member of the scientific council of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (Universcience), La Villette, Paris.

·       2013 & 2015 : President of the Scientific Committee of the Cognitive Sciences Board of the WWTF, the Vienna Fund for Science & Technology, Vienna, Austria. 

·       2010-2016: President of the Scientific Board of the DIM (Major Interest Domain) ‘Brain and Thought’ of the Region Ile de France (Paris & surroundings). Attribution of funding for equipment and fellowships.

·       2014-now: Member of the board of Neuroframes, the international French Research Council (CNRS) network in Neurosciences for promoting cooperation between the CNRS and the neuroscience societies of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile.

·       2009-2012: French coordinator of the European Research Network CNRS-Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG) in Neurosciences, a binational network including all French and German laboratories in neurosciences belonging to these institutions.

·       2008-2012: President of the National Committee of Neurosciences (Section 26: ‘Brain, Cognition & Behavior’) of the French Research Council, CNRS.

·       2004-2008: Member of the National Committee of Neurosciences (Section 26: ‘Brain, Cognition & Behavior’) of the French Research Council, CNRS.

2000-2008: Member of the Scientific Council of the Fyssen Foundation, Paris. Member of the Fyssen Prize Selection Committee. Member of the Fyssen Postdoctoral Fellowship Selection Committee. Member of the Young Investigator Award Committee.

Honors & Awards:
2007
Elected Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Biological Sciences
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

2006
Silver Medal
French Research Council (CNRS)

2005
Promoted Exceptional-Class professor
French National University Council - CNU

2004
Member of the National Board of the French Research Council (CNRS)

2003
Elected member of Faculty of 1000

2002
Elected member of the French Professorial Academy of Sciences
Institut Universitaire de France

1995
King Baudouin Award
International Foundation for Science (Sweden) and the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium)

Selected Publications:

Journal articles

• Avarguès-Weber A, Combe M, Dyer A, Giurfa M (2012) Simultaneous mastering of two abstract concepts by a miniature brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 109: 7481- 7486. doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1202576109.


• Devaud JM, Papouin T, Carcaud J, Sandoz JC, Grünewald B, Giurfa M (2015) Neural substrate for higher-order learning in an insect: Mushroom bodies are necessary for configural discriminations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112 (43): E5854-62. doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1508422112.


• Giurfa M, Eichmann B, Menzel R (1996) Symmetry perception in an insect. Nature 382: 458- 461. doi: 10.1038 / 382458a0.


• Giurfa M, Zhang S, Jenett A, Menzel R, Srinivasan MV (2001) The concepts of 'sameness' and 'difference' in an insect. Nature 410 (6831): 930-933. doi: 10.1038 / 35073582.


• Giurfa M (2007) Behavioral and neural analysis of associative learning in the honeybee: a taste from the magic well. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 193 (8), 801–824. doi: 10.1007 / s00359-007-0235-9


• Giurfa M, Sandoz JC (2012) Invertebrate learning and memory: fifty years of olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension response in honeybee. Learning & memory 19 (2), 54–66. doi: 10.1101 / lm.024711.111.


• Giurfa M (2013) Cognition with few neurons: higher-order learning in insects. Trends in Neurosciences 36 (5): 285-294. doi: 10.1016 / j.tins.2012.12.011.


• Giurfa M (2019) An insect's sense of number. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 23 (9): 720-722. doi: 10.1016 / j.tics.2019.06.010.


• Giurfa M, by Brito Sanchez MG (2020) Black Lives Matter: Revisiting Charles Henry Turner's experiments on honey bee color vision. Current Biology 30, R1235-R1239. WOS: 000579853000002.


• Guerrieri F, Schubert M, Sandoz JC, Giurfa M (2005) Perceptual and neural olfactory similarity in honeybees. PLoS Biology 3 (4): e60. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pbio.0030060.


• Menzel R, Giurfa M (2001) Cognitive architecture of a mini-brain: the honeybee. Trends in cognitive sciences 5 (2), 62–71. doi: 10.1016 / s1364-6613 (00) 01601-6.


• Stach S, Benard J, Giurfa M (2004) Local-feature assembling in visual pattern recognition and generalization in honeybees. Nature 429 (6993): 758-761. doi: 10.1038 / nature02594.


• Villar ME, Marchal P, Viola H, Giurfa M (2020) Redefining single-trial memories in the honeybee. Cell Reports 30 (8): 2603-2613.e3. doi: 10.1016 / j.celrep.2020.01.086.

Books

• Galizia G, Eisenhardt D & Giurfa M. (eds.) 2012. Honeybee Neurobiology and Behavior. Springer, 509pp.