Fate and freedom in the developing brain

The nervous system is composed of a broad diversity of neurons, which assemble during development to form the circuits that account for mammalian behavior. While the diversity on neurons in the adult brain is staggering, they are in fact born from an initially limited set of progenitor cells. The mechanisms through which these progenitors can generate such a diverse array of neurons is still poorly understood, and both genetic and environmental mechanisms (nature and nurture) appear to be involved. Here, I will discuss the approaches we've been using to untangle and manipulate these processes in developing embryos, and how they shed light on evolutionary-conserved strategies to expand neuronal diversity.