Francis Martin received a bachelors degree from the Plant Biology Department of Nancy University (France), a Ph.D. from this University and a Science Doctorat from Paris XI-Orsay University. He spent one year as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He worked at the CSIRO Forestry Research Department in Perth (Western Australia) and at USDA Plant-Soil Biophysics Department at Wyndmoor (PA).
He joined the INRA Forestry Center in 1981 where he built up a research group on the physiology and molecular biology of the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis. He headed the Tree-Microbes Interactions Department and is now heading the Cluster of Excellence ARBRE (Advanced Research on Tree Biology and Forest Ecology).
His main research projects are currently dealing with (1) comparative genomics of lifestyles in Fungi and (2) signalling pathways/effectors in ectomycorrhizal interactions. In 2012, he was awarded the INRA Laurel Wreath of Excellence Award for my work on tree-microbe interactions and fungal genomics.