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Drosophila clock neurons are self-sustaining cellular oscillators that rely on negative transcriptional feedback to keep circadian time. Proper regulation of organismal rhythms of physiology and behavior requires coordination of the oscillations of individual clock neurons within the circadian control network.

Rapid research advances have led to speculation that neuroscience may provide tools to boost memory, detect lies and even increase one's intelligence. But such advances have ethical implications and policies are not in place to cope with the consequences.

The nervous system and the immune system are interacting in manifold ways that are not fully understood. It was recently discovered that both systems make use of the same messenger protein, TNF-alpha, for very different purposes. While the brain uses it for the regulation of its activity, the immune system uses it to signal inflammations.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has published new research with collaborators at Mayo Clinic in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration. The new pre-clinical findings demonstrate durable therapeutic silencing of the alpha-synuclein gene when small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the molecules that mediate RNAi, are administered by direct delivery to the CNS in mice.