Maria Morrell, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School

Adult neural stem cells are present in several discrete locations in the brain. We are interested in how these cells can be directed to replace neurons and glia (supporting cells) lost due to injury, disease or normal aging. These neural stem cells were removed from an adult mouse brain, grown in tissue culture and induced to differentiate into glial cells; the supporting cells of the nervous system. The processes of the many glial cells are red. The round blue structures are cell nuclei.