Abstract: The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) is highly complex, with a vast array of processes and interactions occurring in a dynamic and often transient manner. How these processes are combined to regulate our behavior remains poorly understood. This has in turn led to a lack of understanding of how these processes have gone awry in the many disorders of the nervous system. In order to address this, researchers need a controlled way to manipulate the nervous system in in vitro and ex vivo cultures, in both a specific area and for a specific period of time to start to pick apart these interactions. To date, this has been technically challenging, especially when modeling focal injury to the CNS or when working with human brain tissue.