Jacques Samarut got his PhD at the University of Lyon in 1982. He was then appointed as Associate Professor at the Rockefeller University of New York and then as Invited Professor at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo. He is presently emeritus professor of molecular biology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lyon. From 2008 to 2014 he has been the President of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon a prestigious graduate school. He had been formerly director of the Life Sciences study section of the French National Agency for Scientific Research (CNRS) and President of the scientific advisory board of the French National Institute for Agronomy (INRA). His research work generated several patents and contributed to the creation of three biotech companies (ESGS, Genoway, Vivalis). He has been honored as Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite.