Helsingør, the city of Hamlet in Denmark, provided the site for the workshop "Programming Beta Cell Development, Impairment and Regeneration" on October 23-26th, 2011. The same location has held two EASD Islet study group meetings, while the previous three workshops were held in Helsinki, Finland (2003), El Perello, Spain (2006) and Peebles, Scotland (2009). The meeting drew 190 attendees from 12 different countries. There were 37 main oral presentations, and 68 posters covered virtually all aspects of the pancreas and provided a dynamic snapshot of the most interesting areas of current investigation. In addition, six parallel workshops on stem cells, epigenetics, autoimmunity, β-cell imaging, β-cell identity, omics in β-cell research and a panel discussion on "to be or not to be a beta cell" were held. Here, we will review some of the newest highlights and still unanswered questions in the field.