Martin Chalfie is a University Professor at Columbia University. He obtained his B.A. and PhD from Harvard University and did post-doctoral research with Sydney Brenner at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, before moving to Columbia in 1982. He uses the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate nerve cell development and function, concentrating primarily on genes used in mechanosensory neurons.  His research has been directed toward answering two quite different biological questions:  How do different types of nerve cells acquire and maintain their unique characteristics? And how do sensory cells respond to mechanical signals? He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his introduction of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a biological marker.

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