Sonia Garel is a neurobiologist and heads the Brain Development and Plasticity team at the Institut de biologie de l'École normale supérieure in Paris (France). Her research focuses on the mechanisms that control the assembly of forebrain neuronal circuits during embryogenesis and postnatal development, with a particular interest in interactions with the immune system and the environment.

After studying at AgroParisTech and obtaining a PhD in developmental biology in Paris, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She joined Inserm in 2003, and has headed the Brain Development and Plasticity team since 2008. Her work has been recognized by several prizes and awards, including the European Young Investigator Award (EURYI), the ERC Consolidation Program, the Antoine Lacassagne Prize, the Brixham Foundation Prize for Neuroscience, the NRJ-Institut de France Foundation Grand Prize, and she is a member of EMBO.