Raphaël Scharfmann obtained his PhD in 1989 at University Paris VII, France. He next did a post doc at the Salk institute, La Jolla, CA (1989-1991) and obtained a permanent position at INSERM at the end of 1991. He obtained the prestigious Minkowski Award (for distinguished research in the field of Diabetes in Europe) (1999), the Award from the European Society for Clinical Investigation (2003), the Award from the French National Academy of Medicine (2010) the Bettencourt Award, (Coup d’élan à la Recherche Française) (2012). He is now Research Director at INSERM within the Cochin Institute, University Paris Descartes, Paris France. He is also cofounder of EndoCells/UniverCell Biosolutions, a French biotech company. The major objective of his group is to define signals regulating functional beta cell mass in rodent and human.