HOSTED BY
William Wisden, w.wisden@abdn.ac.uk and Jochen C Meier, jochen.meier@mdc-berlin.de

ABOUT THE SPECIAL TOPIC
How new genetic techniques are revolutionizing the study of neural circuits for both invertebrate and vertebrate systems.

Understanding how specific types of neurons contribute to behaviour is an ambitious goal. For invertebrate model systems (e.g. worms, flies), neurons in the brain are often too small to be studied routinely by electrophysiological approaches. For vertebrates, large ensembles of cells have to be studied, and these cells are often distributed over considerable volumes e.g. GABAergic interneurons in neocortex. Cell type-selective manipulations may be a way forward for treating illness. Before such aims can be realized, or even appreciated as feasible, the brain circuitry in experimental animals has to be known by both establishing the connections between cell types and reversibly manipulating the activity of the cells subtype-selectively. Methods that have all appeared in just the last couple of years to tackle this include: retrograde tracing of circuitry using viruses, ligand-receptor combinations that make subtypes of neurons uniquely sensitive to a drug (e.g. zolpidem, allatostatin, serotonin ligands or ivermectin), and light-activated channels and pumps for stimulation and inhibition. This collection of methods promises much, forming the new subdisciplines of “pharmacogenetics” and “opticogenetics”. These methods are revolutionizing the study of brain circuitry for both invertebrates and vertebrate systems.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION
June 01, 2009

INFORMATIONS FOR AUTHORS
Submission Procedure:

Researchers are invited to submit on or before March 1st 2009 a max. 1 page abstract/outline of work related to the focus of the special section to Javier de Felipe for consideration for potential inclusion as an elaborated full article in the Special Topic.

Please include a provisional title, a full author list, and format the subject of your email as follows: "[“Special Topic title” ] outline - Your Name". Authors will be notified whether their contribution has been accepted by March 15th 2009

Full Article Information:

• Full articles will be invited based on the abstracts/outlines we receive by March 1st 2009
• The deadline for submission of invited full articles is June 1st 2009
• Article formatting will be as for standard Frontiers "Original Research Articles". Guidelines and instructions for their preparation can be found at www.frontiersin.org/authorinstructions#manuscriptGuidelines.
• General author instructions for Frontiers articles can be found at http://frontiersin.org/authorinstructions/.
• Frontiers is an open access journal, following a pay-for-publication model. You will find more details on : http://www.frontiersin.org/publicationfees/.
• Further details will be provided to authors of accepted abstracts by April 1st 2009