Nicolas Renier started his doctoral training in 2007 at the Vision Institute in Paris in the laboratory of Alain Chédotal. His work detailed the importance of crossed axons in the formation of functional circuits and maps in the brain. He then moved to the laboratory of Marc Tessier-Lavigne in 2012 at the Rockefeller University in New York City where he co-developed methods to map the brain and other organs in 3D using tissue clearing and light sheet microscopy. These tools enable fast and streamlined 3D analysis of neuronal activity and axonal projection patterns in the mouse brain.

Nicolas started his own laboratory in 2017 at the Paris Brain Institute, where he is developing a research program to understand the mechanisms and physiological impact of cerebral plasticity during development and in the adult life. His independent work led so far to 1) the development of a methodology to generate whole brain maps of the microvascular cerebral network in the mouse in physiological and pathological conditions and 2) How brain plasticity during pregnancy can shape some maternal behaviors.