Christian Mayer is currently a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the MPI for Biological Intelligence in Munich, Germany (2018–present). He is also an EMBO Young Investigator and serves as a faculty member at the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences and the International Max Planck Research School in Munich. Prior to this, he completed his postdoctoral research under the supervision of Prof. Gord Fishell, initially at the NYU Neuroscience Institute (2012–2017), and subsequently at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Boston (2017–2018), following his supervisor’s move. He also worked at the New York Genome Center (2015–2018). He completed his Ph.D. in Biology at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg, Germany (2007–2011).

After exploring the world of genomics in my masters, I pursued my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Gert Jan C Veenstra, at Radboud Institute of Molecular Life science studying the role of epigenetics in cell identity and lineage commitment in early embryo development. Currently I am working as a post doc in the Mayerlab exploring the underlying mechanisms controlling interneuron development, diversity and function. On top of science, I love to dance, spend time with family and friends, travel, try different cuisines (am a proud foodie) and enjoy listening to music.

I received an undergraduate degree in physiology from the Lomonosov University in Moscow (Russia), a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Genoa (Italy), and did a postdoc in the laboratory of Prof. Bernardo Rudy at the NYU Neuroscience Institute (USA). In the Mayerlab, I am developing tools to interrogate the function of transcription factors during cell-type differentiation.

Connor employs single-cell techniques to unravel how interneurons acquire specialized fates and cortical connectivity. He joined the mayerlab in 2023 to complete his M.Sc. from the University of Munich’s Graduate School of Neurosciences (GSN), and completed a B.S. in biochemistry with honors from the University of Chicago in 2016. Connor previously held positions in healthcare and biotech consulting as Manager of Strategy & Analytics at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Senior Consultant at Blueprint Research Group (now Trinity Life Sciences) in Chicago, USA. In his free time, he enjoys reading science fiction, playing guitar, and exploring the outdoors through cycling, skiing and sailing.

I use both experimental and computational approaches to explore gene-regulatory mechanisms that govern the differentiation and maturation of GABAergic neurons during development. I started my PhD in the mayerlab in 2024 after completing B.Sc. degrees in biology and bioinformatics at LMU and a M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics at LMU and TUM.