Rae Silver - the master circadian clock. Performance Around the Clock episode 41.

Mar 6, 2026

Rae Silver, Columbia neuroscientist famous for SCN transplant experiments, reveals how the brain’s master clock works. Short stories cover her shift from birds to hamsters, definitive SCN transplant proofs, the discovery of portal vessels and diffusible signaling, links to glymphatic clearance and neurodegeneration, and the promise of chronotherapy and lifestyle timing.

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ANECDOTE

Pigeons Revealed The First Puzzle Of Timed Parenting

Rae Silver started with observing pigeons: males incubate from 10:00 to 16:00 and females cover the remaining daylight, revealing precise shared timing.
That behavioral observation led her from avian studies into neuroendocrinology and circadian research with hamsters.

ANECDOTE

Transplant Proved The SCN Controls Behavioral Timekeeping

Rae Silver performed SCN transplants between hamsters with different intrinsic periods and the host's recovered rhythm matched the donor's clock.
Every animal with a successful SCN transplant recovered rhythmic behavior with no variation in outcomes.

INSIGHT

Circadian Breakdown In Dementia May Be Vascular And Glymphatic

Rae suspects disrupted CSF/interstitial/glymphatic signaling and neurovascular changes may underlie circadian breakdowns in neurodegenerative disease.
She notes SCN neurons don't clearly die, but orchestration of rhythms and clearance systems appears impaired with disease.

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In this episode of the Performance Around The Clock podcast, recorded at the European Biological Rhythms Society Congress in Lubeck, Germany, we are joined by Professor Rae Silver from Columbia University. Professor Silver is an iconic figure in circadian biology whose foundational research helped characterize the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)—the brain's master circadian clock.

We explore Professor Silver’s scientific journey, beginning with her early fascination with the perfectly timed, shared parental behaviors of doves and pigeons. The conversation highlights how this curiosity eventually led to her groundbreaking SCN transplant experiments in hamsters. By transplanting the clock of a "fast-running" donor into a "slow-running" host, her work definitively proved that the SCN controls circadian behavior. We dive into her revolutionary discovery that the SCN communicates its timing not just through neural synapses or "roads," but through "rivers and oceans"—secreting diffusible signals into the cerebrospinal fluid via a specialized portal blood vessel system.

The discussion moves toward the profound clinical implications of this fluid communication network, including its connection to the brain's glymphatic system, waste clearance during sleep, and neurovascular diseases like Alzheimer's. We also touch upon the exciting future of the field, from the power of chronotherapy in optimizing cancer treatments to the massive economic and health benefits of lifestyle interventions like time-restricted eating and light management to combat diabetes. Finally, Professor Silver shares invaluable career advice for young scientists about balancing high-risk experiments with reliable projects, and the importance of cultivating a lifelong passion outside of the lab.

Please join us for this wide-ranging and inspiring conversation. If you enjoy this episode, please like, comment, or subscribe. Thanks for listening.

Guest:

Professor Rae Silver, Columbia University

Helene L. and Mark N. Kaplan Professor of Natural & Physical Sciences

Chair of the Neuroscience Program

https://psychology.columbia.edu/content/rae-silver

Host:

Dr. Satchin Panda

X (Twitter): @SatchinPanda

https://x.com/SatchinPanda

Instagram: @satchin.panda https://www.instagram.com/satchin.panda/

Links:

Donations: https://panda.salk.edu/giving/

Research: https://www.salk.edu/scientist/satchidananda-panda/

More science: ⁠https://mycircadianclock.org/⁠