CONVERSATIONS IN THE BRAIN: How neural progenitor cells control their own fate

Neurogenesis relies on a delicate balance between progenitor maintenance and neuronal production. Oscar Marin and colleagues find that the Robo1 and Robo2 receptors and their Slit protein ligands, known to regulate axon guidance, also modulate the transition between primary and intermediate progenitors in the developing brain through transcriptional activation of the Notch effector Hes1.