Beloved by colleagues, friends, and family for her sharp, witty, and engaging mind, neuroimmunology pioneer Prof. Sara Fuchs, known affectionately as “Saraleh,” passed away in April 2025. Born in Hadera, she married her high school sweetheart Yoram (Rami) Fuchs while completing her MSc degree in chemistry and physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1959. For her doctoral studies, the young couple moved to Rehovot, and Prof. Fuchs became one of the first Weizmann Institute PhD students of the late Prof. Michael Sela. While earning her degree, she also gave birth to two of her three children.

The family then traveled abroad for the first time in 1965, as Prof. Fuchs had secured an extraordinary opportunity to conduct postdoctoral research in the lab of Prof. Christian Anfinsen at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. (Prof. Anfinsen would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972.)

Returning to the Weizmann Institute as a senior scientist in 1969, Prof. Fuchs joined what was then known as the Department of Chemical Immunology. In time, she undertook collaborative research with Prof. Israel Silman, an expert on the structure of the neural enzyme AChE—a decision that proved a watershed for her career. Investigating the enzyme, which acts upon the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), Prof. Fuchs discovered that the ACh receptor plays a vital role in the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, a chronic condition that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles—most commonly those of the eyes, face, and throat. She pivoted her efforts toward deciphering the structure and function of the ACh receptor as well as potential therapies for myasthenia gravis. She also investigated the role played by dopamine receptors in schizophrenia.

Prof. Fuchs’s research involved successful collaborations with many scientists and physicians, and she spent multiple sabbatical periods at the NIH and other prestigious institutions. She also served on the editorial boards of Journal of Autoimmunity, EMBO Journal,andJournal of Molecular Neuroscience.Prof. Fuchs held the Sir Ernst B. Chain Professorial Chair in Neuroimmunology until her retirement from the Weizmann Institute in 2000 and was promoted toemeritus status in 2003.

Even after her official retirement, Prof. Fuchs continued her research, ultimately becoming part of the new Department of Immunology and Regenerative Biology. Her office wall was decorated with a large poster featuring photos of her many students who were always, she said, a valued part of her Institute career, continuing to collaborate with her long after they had left her lab.

Please click this link to read a 2014 review written by Sara, detailing her life achievements.