Jonah Chan received his BS in Biochemistry and a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University with Professor Eric Shooter. Jonah is currently the Debbie and Andy Rachleff Professor of Neurology at UCSF. The Chan laboratory has a long-standing interest in fundamental glial/neuronal interactions and the molecular mechanisms that regulate myelination. While much has been learned about the global determinants that generate/specify myelin-forming cells during development, the Chan laboratory is particularly interested in understanding how local environmental cues control the spatiotemporal regulation of differentiation and myelination, including both molecular and biophysical interactions. Identification of an environment that is conducive for myelination could have important implications for efforts aimed at promoting repair and remyelination in the nervous system.