Shaping and making the vertebrate CNS: Insights into glial evolution and diversification

The vertebrate nervous system is made up of nerves and glia. Glia helps nerves function properly and have many specific roles. While nerves are well studied, glia remains largely unexplored, and the emergence of glial cell types remains enigmatic. In this thesis I investigate the evolutionary origins of glia in the vertebrate phylogeny using diverse histological and molecular techniques.