Dr. Christopher Pastras

Dr Pastras is a second-year early career researcher and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney. He received his PhD in January 2019 from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney for his thesis titled Assessment of Utricular Nerve, Hair cell and Mechanical function, in vivo. During his doctoral studies, he developed novel tools to assess the function and mechanics of the vestibular system, allowing the differential diagnosis of peripheral balance function as a means to assess vestibular health and disease – a world first in the field. Dr Pastras has published 12 papers (five as first and/or senior author), and eight during his PhD candidature. In this time, he presented at 13 national and international conferences, including eight podium and several poster presentations. He has supervised several HDR and undergraduate students in a research and laboratory setting.

His main research area is the peripheral vestibular system, and his research primarily involves acute (and chronic) electrophysiological experiments on guinea pigs, and mechanical recordings using techniques such as Laser Doppler Vibrometry. Using a range of custom-designed equipment and programs, his research is unique in that both vestibular and cochlear activity are simultaneously measured during complex in vivo experiments. With these approaches, Dr Pastras hopes to develop and characterize novel measures of Semi-Circular Canal function, as a means to differentially assess peripheral dysfunction as a preclinical assay for SCC disorders.

External links:

• Research Gate
• The University of Sydney
• Twitter