The formation of stars and galaxies in the first billion of years after the Big Bang presents many open questions: How and when the first stars and galaxies were formed? How does the interplay between baryonic and dark matter physics determine the properties of these objects and evolve them into the galaxies, stars and black holes observed today? I will show how these questions can be addressed today by combining theoretical/numerical modeling of the early stages of galaxy formation with the latest Hubble Space Telescope observations, and what are the prospects for further progress using the next generation of observational and computational facilities.