The present invention features methods and compositions for treating a patient who has a neurological deficit. The method can be carried out, for example, by contacting (in vivo or in culture) a neural progenitor cell of the patients central nervous system (CNS) with a polypeptide that binds the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor and directing progeny of the proliferating progenitor cells to migrate en masse to a region of the CNS in which they will reside and function in a manner sufficient to reduce the neurological deficit. The method may include a further step in which the progeny of the neural precursor cells are contacted with a compound that stimulates differentiation.
