Neural stem cells are undifferentiated precursor cells that proliferate, self-renew, and give rise to neuronal and glial lineages. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying their self-renewal is an important aspect in neural stem cell biology. The regulation mechanisms governing self-renewal of neural stem cells and the signaling pathways responsible for the proliferation and maintenance of adult stem cells remain largely unknown. In this issue of Molecular Brain [Ma DK et al. Molecular genetic analysis of FGFR1 signaling reveals distinct roles of MAPK and PLCgamma1 activation for self-renewal of adult neural stem cells. Molecular Brain 2009, 2:16], characterized the different roles of MAPK and PLCgamma1 in FGFR1 signaling in the self-renewal of neural stem cells. These novel findings provide insights into basic neural stem cell biology and clinical applications of potential stem-cell-based therapy.