What are the applications of neural stem cells in the lab?

Neural stem cells are largely undifferentiated cells that grow and differentiate into the different cells of the nervous system. Neural stem cells have several applications in the lab including but not limited to:

• Pharmaceutical testing: Before testing new drugs on humans, it is essential to test the effectiveness as well as the potential side effects of the drug on functional cells in a culture. Testing the drug on neural cells in a dish in the lab allows researchers to study the reactions to the compound on a cellular level, ensuring their safety for human use. 
• Disease modeling: In order to develop new treatments and therapies for any disease, researchers need to first have a more thorough understanding of the characteristics of healthy and diseased cells. Observing diseased cells in a dish in the lab and studying the progression of the disease gives researchers a better understanding of the functional mechanisms of the disease. 
• Regenerative medicine: Regenerative medicine involves researching safe and effective ways to supplement or replace cells and tissues that have been damaged by injury or disease with healthy, undamaged cells or cell products. Using neural stem cells in the lab, researchers are exploring ways to use these cells to treat neurodegenerative diseases.