Over 1,000 posters greeted the thousands of attendees who came to San Diego, California for the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. Parallel nanosymposia also attracted the interest of neuroscientists discussing new research at the meeting, with a significant number of new molecules with the potential to impact the treatment of neuro degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or Huntington's disease. A selection of novel molecules reported during the first day of the meeting are described in the following report.