Paul H. Patterson (October 22, 1943 - June 25, 2014).

Eminent Caltech neuroscientist, Paul H. Patterson, died on June 25, 2014 as a result of glioblastoma multiforme. He is survived by wife, Carolyn, and son, Paul Claire, both great sources of joy for him. Paul’s numerous personal and scientific contributions will long outlast his tenure in life. Being both an amazing scientist and human being, Paul influenced and inspired countless friends, collaborators, and trainees, among whose number I am proud to count myself. To talk about Paul as a scientist, I need to go back to 1977. 1977 was a great year. The Sex Pistols were rockin’ the world, Apple computers was incorporating, and Paul was at Harvard where he discovered that mature neurons could change their neurotransmitter identify in response to external factors [1, 2]. This finding challenged the “one neuron, one transmitter” dogma of the day and initiated divergent branches of neuroscience. Paul went on to discover that the cytokine, leukemia inhibitory factor, or LIF, could induce production of acetylcholine in cultured rat sympathetic neurons [3]. This finding, that immune system molecules could influence the development and behavior of neurons, formed the basis for the field of neuroimmunology, in which Paul continued to work. Over the years, Paul and his team studied the effects of LIF on CNS cells and demonstrated that it could promote neural stem cell selfrenewal in the adult brain [4], oligodendrocyte survival after spinal cord injury [5], and remyelination in an acute model of multiple sclerosis [6], identifying LIF as a powerful potential therapeutic with protective and restorative capabilities. In parallel, Paul investigated immune involvement in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism. Epidemiological data following viral outbreaks had shown that multiple types of infection