Nicholas Nelson is a UCSD Biological Sciences Ph.D. Candidate in Axel Nimmerjahn’s lab at the Salk Institute. Nicholas’s research interests lie in the interface of the nervous and immune systems, and his thesis research investigates how glial cells in the spinal cord regulate nervous system homeostasis and inflammation during the development of chronic pain. More broadly, Nicholas is interested in what shaped the evolution of the human mind – what cellular and molecular actions underlie cognition in mammals, and what factors fueled the emergence of the human mind’s unique (or not so unique) flaws and capabilities.