The Society was sad to hear of the death of French neuroscientist Philippe Ascher who died in October 2022 at the age of 86. Known as a giant of neuroscience, he will be greatly missed by the community.

Ascher studied biology at École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, France before completing his PhD thesis under the guidance of Pierre Buser, performing electrophysiological recordings in cats. He then expanded his interests to ionic and cellular mechanisms, which led to his research on the action of neurotransmitters at Institut Marey, Paris, France. He focused on the nervous system of the sea mollusc Aplysia, investigating the inhibitory and excitatory effects of dopamine and the rapid excitatory actions of acetylcholine. During this period he met his future wife JacSue Kehoe as well as his life-long friend Hersch (Coco) Gerschenfeld. The trio collaborated throughout Ascher’s career.

Ascher was influential in the study of mammalian neurons. He advanced knowledge of glutamate receptors, his research dedicated on a type known as N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA) which are found in the neurons. Two of his key findings include the discovery of the role magnesium ions play in the functioning of these NMDA glutamate receptors with Linda Nowak in 1984. A few years later, Ascher and Jon Johnson discovered the modulating role of glycine in gating NMDA receptor channels. Ascher went onto study the role of NMDA receptors in the plasticity of cerebellar synapses.

In 1971 at ENS, Ascher founded the Neurobiology Laboratory, where he was director until 2001. In 1992, he became head of the Biology Department at ENS, a position he held until 1999. During this decade he also won the Richard Lounsbery Award jointly with Henri Korn for their discoveries of the mechanisms of synaptic transmission.

In 2003 he joined Professor Alain Marty working at the Laboratory of Cerebral Physiology at the University of Paris-Descartes, France. Ascher was later named Professor Emeritus at Saint-Pères Paris Institute for Neurosciences, France in 2019, a position he held until his death.