Jean Laurens

Jean Laurens is a Group Leader at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society in Frankfurt, Germany, where he heads the Laurens Lab. His research focuses on understanding how we sense our own motion and orient ourselves in three-dimensional space through neural mechanisms.

His research interests include:

• Three-dimensional navigation and the neural basis of the 'brain compass' through head-direction cells in the limbic system
• Sensory signals for spatial navigation and how the brain integrates self-motion signals with visual landmarks
• Self-motion sensation and how the brain merges multiple sensory signals from the inner ear, vision, and proprioception with motor commands

Laurens employs a multidisciplinary approach combining mathematical modeling and extracellular neuronal recordings in behaving Marmoset monkeys. His work spans computational neuroscience, systems neuroscience, and vestibular research, with significant contributions to understanding 3D orientation coding, gravity sensing in neural circuits, and spatial cognition. Recent publications demonstrate his focus on neural attractor networks, multisensory integration, and the representation of spatial orientation relative to gravity.

His laboratory team includes researchers Francesca Lanzarini, Farzad Ziaie Nezhad, and Deepak Surendran, with Sogand Ghiasi managing laboratory operations. The Laurens Lab has been featured in media outlets including Süddeutsche Zeitung, with coverage of their work on balance mechanisms published in November 2020 and an article titled 'Du kannst mich Affe nennen' published on August 30, 2024.