Axel Kahn has a doctorate in medicine and in sciences, is director of research at INSERM (France's national health institute), head of the Cochin Institute, and member of the Comité Consultatif National d'Ethique (a French governmental advisory council on bioethics issues). He is the author of Copies conformes - Le clonage en question (1998), Et l'homme dans tout ça (with Fabrice Papillon, 2000), Raisonnable et humain? (2004), and Le Secret de la salamandre (with Fabrice Papillon, 2005), all published by NiL éditions.