RIPK1 and neurodegenerative disease: Inhibition of receptor interacting protein 1 (RIP1) by a drug class referred to as the necrostatins has been shown to retard necroptosis, a form of programmed necrotic-like cell death which has been suggested to underlie pathophysiology of various diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases [1], acute inflammatory conditions [2], malignancies [3] and cardiovascular diseases associated with ischemia (reviewed by [4,5]).