Easton, Massachusetts in the Department of Biology and Neuroscience Program. He will discuss some of the mechanisms and cues thought to drive stem cells in the early mammalian embryo to give rise to the neurons and glia of the functionally diverse, post-natal nervous system. He will elucidate some of the challenges that make healing and repair of an injured nerve so difficult in light of these key developmental events and discuss how plasticity, or the ability to alter established properties of a cell, may change over time.