At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to:

•  Explain inherent plasticity in the CNS

•  Research how atem cells may mediate this plasticity through developmental

mechanisms

•  Understand there is an enormous amount of cross talk between the

progeny of a given stem cell clone, between neural stem cells

and host tissues in transplantation settings, and between

neural systems and non-neural systems (e.g. inflammatory,

vascular, myogenic, with each lineage maintaining its

independent identity without transdifferentiation).

• Specify how stem cells may exert a therapeutic effect via cell replacement,

foreign gene delivery and neuroprotection. Multiple cell types

may be needed to accomplish this -all of which can be derived

from on neural stem cell clone.