Glia are a large and diverse population of neural support cells that play central roles in the development and regulation of the central nervous system (CNS). The Burda Lab explores how glia respond to injuries and disorders of the CNS and how these responses impact on neural repair, regeneration and neurological recovery. At present, experimental research in the Burda Lab is aimed at understanding how altered communication pathways between neurons and astrocytes, a specialized type of glia, regulates regenerative plasticity of neural circuits after traumatic CNS injuries. To examine and manipulate complex, multi-cellular neurobiological systems, the Burda Lab applies several experimental and analytical approaches, including in vivo and cell type-specific genetic manipulations in pre-clinical mouse models of CNS injury, genomics, neural circuit mapping, biochemistry, as well as behavioral and neurophysiological evaluations. An overriding objective for the Burda Lab is to lay the foundation for the development of next-generation neurotherapeutics intended to stimulate functionally meaningful neuroplasticity. This discovery-driven biomedical research holds important relevance for patients with traumatic spinal cord or brain injury, stroke or neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, in which therapeutically harnessing the innate plasticity of viable neural circuits may be a key to improving outcome and promoting recovery.