Piotr TOPILKO is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Schwann cells in development and pathology of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). He belongs to the Institute of Biology (IBENS) of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and benefits from all its services and platforms (genomics, imaging, bioinformatics, mouse facilities and administration). The ENS is an elite, multidiciplinary (from humanities to quantum physics) institution within the high education French system. It was evaluated as the first French University in the Times classification. He is leading outstanding research on Schwann cells, neural crest derived boundary cap (BC) cells and more recently skin stem cells and type 1 neurofibromatosis at IBENS. In the middle nineties, he identified Krox20 transcription factor as a master gene controlling Schwann cells myelination. More recently, he discovered that a particular type of peripheral glia, BC cells, plays multiple and key functions, as stem cells niche providing glia and sensory neurons to the developing PNS, and as a gate keeper by preventing escapement of motor neurons from the neural tube. For these works he obtained the prestigious prize in 2004 of the Foundation of France. Recently, his team identified and characterized a BC-derived neurogenic stem cell population in the adult skin that appears promising for repairing of the injured nervous system. His ongoing studies point to the BC-derivatives as cells at the origin of plexiform and cutaneous neurofibromas in NF1 disease. He recently set up a mouse model carrying NF1 loss in BC cells that faithfully recapitulate several aspects of human disease. He has published 59 publications in high-ranking international journals including first or last author positions in Cell, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience, Development and Cell Stem Reports. He has directed several PhD students and has now is heading his own team that includes a postdoctoral fellow, two research engineers and a PhD student. Finally, as inventor, he developed innovative equipment for research in science, that are used by academics and private laboratories in Europe.