# Jonathan Ashmore

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**Jonathan Felix Ashmore** (born 1948)[4] is a British [physicist](/source/Physicist) and [Bernard Katz](/source/Bernard_Katz) Professor of [Biophysics](/source/Biophysics) at [University College London](/source/University_College_London).[10]

## Early life and education

Ashmore is the son of theatre director and actor [Peter Ashmore](/source/Peter_Ashmore_(theatre_director_and_actor)) and the actress [Rosalie Crutchley](/source/Rosalie_Crutchley).[11]

Aged seven, Ashmore played Joe in the 1955 film *[A Kid for Two Farthings](/source/A_Kid_for_Two_Farthings_(film))*, adapted from [the novel](/source/A_Kid_for_Two_Farthings_(novel)) by [Wolf Mankowitz](/source/Wolf_Mankowitz).[12]

Educated at [Westminster School](/source/Westminster_School)[4] as a [Queen's Scholar](/source/Queen's_Scholar_(Westminster_School)), Ashmore studied mathematics and physics at the [University of Sussex](/source/University_of_Sussex)[5] followed by a [PhD](/source/PhD) in [theoretical physics](/source/Theoretical_physics) in 1971 supervised by [Tom Kibble](/source/Tom_Kibble) at [Imperial College London](/source/Imperial_College_London) where his research investigated [quantum field theory](/source/Quantum_field_theory).[6]

## Career and research

After a short [postdoctoral](/source/Postdoctoral) [research fellowship](/source/Research_fellow) supervised by [Abdus Salam](/source/Abdus_Salam)[7] at the [International Centre for Theoretical Physics](/source/International_Centre_for_Theoretical_Physics) in [Trieste](/source/Trieste), Italy he retrained as a physiologist at UCL, gaining a [Master of Science](/source/Master_of_Science) degree in 1974[5] which led to work with [Paul Fatt](/source/Paul_Fatt) and [Gertrude Falk](/source/Gertrude_Falk)[13] between 1974 and 1977 in the Biophysics Department.

Ashmore was appointed a [Lecturer](/source/Lecturer) in [Physiology](/source/Physiology) at the [University of Bristol](/source/University_of_Bristol) in 1983 and promoted to [Reader](/source/Reader_(academic_rank)) in 1988, before moving back to UCL in 1993.[7][5]

Ashmore has worked on dissecting the cellular mechanisms of hearing by studying the [organ of Corti](/source/Organ_of_Corti) in the mammalian [cochlea](/source/Cochlea)[14] especially the [guinea pig](/source/Guinea_pig) (*Cavia porcellus*).[15][16] This structure in the inner ear increases the selectivity and sensitivity of our hearing through an in-built [cochlear amplifier](/source/Cochlear_amplifier).[17] He showed that specialised cells known as [outer hair cells](/source/Outer_hair_cell) are responsible for this unique function.[17][18][19]

In response to sound, outer hair cells lengthen then shorten through a process controlled and powered by the flow of electrically charged molecules such as [potassium](/source/Potassium) [ions](/source/Ion).[20] This contraction propagates and amplifies sound, and he was the first to capture it on film during his *[Rock Around the Clock](/source/Rock_Around_the_Clock) Hair Cell* video.[10][17]

His work has combined biophysical methods – including the [patch clamp](/source/Patch_clamp) technique usually applied to [membrane proteins](/source/Membrane_protein) – with [confocal microscopy](/source/Confocal_microscopy) imaging and [computational modelling](/source/Computational_model) to expand our knowledge of hearing at the molecular and cellular level. His findings are helping to unravel the nature and origins of hearing-related conditions like [deafness](/source/Deafness) and [tinnitus](/source/Tinnitus).[9][17]

His research has been funded by the [Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council](/source/Biotechnology_and_Biological_Sciences_Research_Council) (BBSRC) and the [Medical Research Council (MRC)](/source/Medical_Research_Council_(United_Kingdom))[21] and he has supervised several doctoral students to completion including Dan Jagger.[8]

### Awards and honours

Ashmore was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) (FRS) in 1996[4] and gave their [Croonian Lecture](/source/Croonian_Lecture) in 2017 on the [neuroscience](/source/Neuroscience) of [deafness](/source/Deafness).[9] He is also an elected [Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences](/source/Fellow_of_the_Academy_of_Medical_Sciences) (FMedSci), a [Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Biology) (FRSB)[4] and a member of both the [Association for Research in Otolaryngology](/source/Association_for_Research_in_Otolaryngology) and The [Biophysical Society](/source/Biophysical_Society).[22]

Ashmore is [Faculty of 1000](/source/Faculty_of_1000) section head for Sensory Systems[22] and a trustee for the [Hearing Research Trust](/source/Deafness_Research_UK).[citation needed] He served as president of [The Physiological Society](/source/The_Physiological_Society) from 2012 to 2014.[7]

## Personal life

Through his mother, Ashmore is descended from the [1st Earl of Leicester](/source/Thomas_Coke,_1st_Earl_of_Leicester_(seventh_creation)) and his second wife, Lady Anne Amelia Keppel, a descendant of [Charles II of England](/source/Charles_II_of_England).

## References

1. Ashmore, Jonathan Felix (1972). ["Aspects of quantum field theory"](http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.623991) (PhD). *ethos.bl.uk*. University of London. [hdl:10044/1/16203](https://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/16203). [OCLC 930651621](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/930651621)[dead link]

1. Ashmore, Jonathan Felix (2016). "Paul Fatt. 13 January 1924 – 28 September 2014". *[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society](/source/Biographical_Memoirs_of_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society)*. **62**: 167–186. [doi:10.1098/rsbm.2016.0005](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2016.0005). [ISSN 0080-4606](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0080-4606)

1. Jagger, Daniel James (1996). ["Modulation of ion channels in outer hair cells from the mammalian cochlea"](http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.336876) (PhD). *ethos.bl.uk*. University of Bristol. [OCLC 931565011](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/931565011)

1. Ashmore, Jonathan (2017) [Now you hear it, now you don't: the neuroscience of deafness](https://www.youtube.com/GiZRlJl1eVw) on YouTube

1. Anon (2017). ["Professor Jonathan Ashmore Lab Page"](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ear/research/pi/ashmorelab). *ucl.ac.uk*. University College London. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170426055617/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ear/research/pi/ashmorelab) 26 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

1. Purser, Philip (20 August 1997). ["The Director's Cut, Guardian Obituary, Peter Ashmore"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/260782911/?terms=peter%20ashmore%20&match=1). *[The Guardian newspaper](/source/The_Guardian_newspaper)*. p. 16. Retrieved 9 April 2024.

1. [Jonathan Ashmore](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0039155/) at IMDb

1. Anon (2008). ["Physiological Society obituary: Gertrude Falk 1925–2008"](http://www.dcscience.net/Gertrude-Falk-obituary-PhysSoclb.pdf). *dcscienece.net*

1. Housley, G. D. & Ashmore, J. F. (1991). "Direct Measurement of the Action of Acetylcholine on Isolated Outer Hair Cells of the Guinea Pig Cochlea". *Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences*. **244** (1310): 161–167. [Bibcode:1991RSPSB.244..161H](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991RSPSB.244..161H). [doi:10.1098/rspb.1991.0065](https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1991.0065). [ISSN 0962-8452](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0962-8452). [PMID 1679550](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1679550). [S2CID 1950263](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:1950263)

1. Ashmore, J. F. & Meech, R. W. (1986). "Ionic basis of membrane potential in outer hair cells of guinea pig cochlea". *[Nature](/source/Nature_(journal))*. **322** (6077): 368–371. [Bibcode:1986Natur.322..368A](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986Natur.322..368A). [doi:10.1038/322368a0](https://doi.org/10.1038/322368a0). [PMID 2426595](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2426595). [S2CID 4371640](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4371640)

1. Nobili, Renato; Mammano, Fabio; Ashmore, Jonathan (1998). "How well do we understand the cochlea?". *Trends in Neurosciences*. **21** (4): 159–167. [doi:10.1016/s0166-2236(97)01192-2](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0166-2236(97)01192-2). [hdl:11577/2461756](https://hdl.handle.net/11577/2461756). [PMID 9554726](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9554726). [S2CID 15474808](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15474808)

1. Anon (1996). ["Professor Jonathan Ashmore FMedSci FRS"](https://royalsociety.org/people/jonathan-ashmore-11009/). *royalsociety.org*. London: [Royal Society](/source/Royal_Society). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20151117003552/https://royalsociety.org/people/jonathan-ashmore-11009/) 17 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License](/source/Creative_Commons_license)." --["Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies"](https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20161111170346/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/) 2016-11-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2016-03-09.

1. Ashmore, Jonathan Felix (1987). "A fast motile response in guinea-pig outer hair cells: the cellular basis of the cochlear amplifier". *[The Journal of Physiology](/source/The_Journal_of_Physiology)*. **388** (1): 323–347. [doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1987.sp016617](https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1987.sp016617). [ISSN 1469-7793](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1469-7793). [PMC 1192551](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1192551). [PMID 3656195](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3656195)

1. Ashmore, Jonathan (2008). "Cochlear Outer Hair Cell Motility". *[Physiological Reviews](/source/Physiological_Reviews)*. **88** (1): 173–210. [doi:10.1152/physrev.00044.2006](https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00044.2006). [ISSN 0031-9333](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0031-9333). [PMID 18195086](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18195086)

1. Housley, G D & Ashmore, J F (1992). "Ionic currents of outer hair cells isolated from the guinea-pig cochlea.". *[The Journal of Physiology](/source/The_Journal_of_Physiology)*. **448** (1): 73–98. [doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1992.sp019030](https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1992.sp019030). [ISSN 1469-7793](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1469-7793). [PMC 1176188](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1176188). [PMID 1593487](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1593487)

1. Anon (2017). ["UK Government Grants awarded to Jonathan Ashmore"](http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/person/4F167754-DA3F-476D-A1E3-06C3DF342BF3). *gtr.rcuk.ac.uk*. Swindon: [Research Councils UK](/source/Research_Councils_UK). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171031131907/http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/person/4F167754-DA3F-476D-A1E3-06C3DF342BF3) 31 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Anon (2011). ["Jonathan Ashmore: Section Head in Sensory Systems – F1000Prime"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120405193122/http://f1000.com/thefaculty/member/4033843402519366). *F1000.com*. Archived from [the original](http://f1000.com/thefaculty/member/4033843402519366) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

## External links

- [Jonathan Ashmore](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0039155/) at IMDb

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