Philippe Ascher

Philippe Ascher (born June 28, 1936 in Commercy, France) is a French neuroscientist. He is professor emeritus at the Université Paris Diderot.[1] He has devoted his research mainly to the characterization of certain neurotransmitter receptors. He has been a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences since 1990.[2]

Philippe Ascher
Born (1936-06-28) 28 June 1936
Commercy, France
NationalityFrench
CitizenshipFrance
Alma materÉcole normale supérieure
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1967)​
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
InstitutionsCNRS

Biography[3]

Education

He was a student at the École normale supérieure from 1955 to 1959 and passed the Agrégation of biology in his final year,[4] a highly competitive postgraduate examination which serves as a national ranking of students. Then he devoted his thesis to a problem of organization of nerves (the analysis of the circuits involved in the startle reaction of the anaesthetized cat to chloralose). He became a Doctor of Science in 1965.

Career

Philippe Ascher is interested in the ionic mechanisms associated with the action of neurotransmitters. On Aplysian neurons, he studied the inhibitory and excitatory effects of dopamine, and the rapid excitatory actions of acetylcholine. In the study of mammalian neurons, he participated in the characterization of L-glutamate receptors, particularly those activated by N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA receptors). He discovered the role of Mg ions in the functioning of these receptors, and the modulating role of glycine. He then studied the role of NMDA receptors in the plasticity of cerebellar synapses.[3]

In 1965 he met a post-doctoral student named JacSue Keohe, whom he married in 1967 and with whom he had a scientific collaboration throughout his career.

In 1971 at the École normale supérieure (ENS), he founded the Neurobiology Laboratory, of which he was director until 2001. Then in 1992,[5] still at the ENS, he succeeded Pierre Joliot as head of the Biology Department (until 1999).

In 1992 he won the Richard Lounsbery Award jointly with Henri Korn for "their discoveries of the mechanisms of synaptic transmission. Philippe Asher furthered knowledge regarding the properties of glutamate receptors which play an important role in trials, and Henri Korn brought to light the elementary liberation of neurotransmitter in quanta form in the central nervous system of vertebrates."[6]

His current research focuses on a synapse in the spinal cord that uses both acetylcholine and glutamate.

In 2003, having reached official retirement age with his wife JacSue, he joined Alain Marty who heads the Laboratory of Cerebral Physiology at the University of Paris-Descartes. Since 2019, he has been Professor Emeritus at the SPPIN laboratory (Saint-Pères Paris Institute for Neurosciences)[7] of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, also at the University of Paris-Descartes.

Personal life

He married in 1967 the American researcher JacSue Kehoe (died in 2019) with whom he had two sons.

Awards and honours

Diplomas, titles and awards

Extra-academic distinctions
  • 1989: elected to the pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences Academia Europaea (physiology and neuroscience section)[8]
  • 1990: Knight of the Legion of Honor[9]
  • 1990: Elected correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences (Molecular and Cellular Biology, Genomics Section)[2]

References
  1. Dr Philippe ASCHER. Brain Physiology Lab. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  2. "Philippe Ascher | Liste des membres de l'Académie des sciences / A | Listes par ordre alphabétique | Listes des membres | Membres | Nous connaître". www.academie-sciences.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  3. "Notice biographique de Philippe Ascher, Correspondant de l'Académie des sciences" (PDF). Académie des Sciences (in French).
  4. "Les agrégés de l'enseignement secondaire. Répertoire 1809-1960 | Ressources numériques en histoire de l'éducation". rhe.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  5. BILLAUD, Baptiste; FLAMENT, Séverine; MAILLOUX, Aude; MONTIER, Florie; PARANTHOEN, Céline; ZAOUCHE, Redha (2018). École normale supérieure (1863-2014), Répertoire numérique détaillé des cotes 20170161/1-20170161/933 (in French). Archives nationales (France). p. 92.
  6. Richard Lounsbery Award. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  7. "Philippe ASCHER | SPPIN – CNRS UMR 8003". www.sppin.fr. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  8. "Academy of Europe: Ascher Philippe". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  9. ORDRE DE LA LEGION D'HONNEUR Décret du 31 décembre 1989 portant promotion et nomination (in French), retrieved 2020-05-05
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