Dr. Christopher Pastras is a Macquarie University Research Fellow in the School of Engineering, and member of the Hearing Research Centre. His main research area is the inner ear, with expertise in neurophysiology, biomechanics, and bioengineering, with a particular focus on discovery science and animal models of health and disease. In 2020, he was awarded the Garnett Passe & Rodney Williams Fellowship at the University of Sydney to develop novel tools to investigate inner ear function. In 2022, Dr Pastras was awarded a Macquarie University Research Fellowship to uncover mammalian balance function needed to drive translational devices. His research has developed a novel in vivo platform to simultaneously measure cellular, neural, and mechanical responses from the mammalian inner ear. Specifically, he has developed specialized electrophysiological and mechanical recording tools to probe the function and operation of the mammalian balance system, with the use of delicate experimental manipulations, models of disease, and morphological techniques. This research is supported by technical expertise in programming, instrumentation and control, data acquisition and analysis, and mathematical modelling. Dr Pastras is currently the Faculty of Science and Engineering Early Career Researcher Representative, and Co-Chair to the Early to Mid-Career Researcher Grassroots Network associated with the Hearing Research Centre.