Gerlai received his Ph.D. from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1989. He has held numerous academic positions in Europe and North America (Eötvös University of Budapest, Mount Sinai Hospital Research Institute of Toronto, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, University of Hawaii Honolulu), and leadership positions in the US biotech and biopharma industry working as a senior research scientist and Vice President (Genentech Inc. South San Francisco, Eli Lilly & Co. Indianapolis, Saegis Pharma Half Moon Bay) before joining University of Toronto in 2004, where he is currently full professor at the Department of Psychology.

Gerlai has published over 200 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals and books with a cumulative citation number over 12000 and an H index of 55. He is member of editorial boards of F1000, PLOS ONE, Learning and Behavior, Genes Brain and Behaviour, Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Current Psychopharmacology, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, and Behavior Brain Functions, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Genetics of Complex Traits, Review Editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience, and Section Editor for BioMedCentral Neuroscience. He has also edited handbooks on molecular genetic approaches in behavioural neuroscience. He has been serving as a grant referee/review panel member for science foundations across the globe (e.g. in USA, UK, Israel, South Korea, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Canada). He is founding member of the International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society, IBANGS. He was the president of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) and is a Fellow of IBNS since 2005. He received the Distinguished Scientist Award from IBANGS in 2013, and the John Wiley Distinguished Speaker Award from the International Society of Developmental Psychobiology in 2014. In 2015 he was awarded the University of Toronto Mississauga Excellence in Research Award.

Gerlai has studied the behaviour genetics of fish for four decades, and he started working with zebrafish two decades ago. His research at UTM reflects his multidisciplinary background spanning psychology, neuroscience, pharmacology and genetics. His laboratory has developed novel behavioural testing tools for the zebrafish, and studies the mechanisms of alcohol abuse, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and of learning and memory. His laboratory has been funded by NIH, NSERC and Brain Canada – Eli Lilly & Co since his tenure started in 2004.