Professor Don Robertson

Don Robertson is a Professor in Physiology at The University of Western Australia's School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences.

Professor Robertson completed his undergraduate honours degree at UWA under one of the great names in modern auditory physiology, Brian Johnstone. He gained valuable research experience overseas, working on the efferent control system in hearing with John Desmedt at The Brain Research Institute, University of Brussels, and then in Canada, where he completed a PhD on the mechanisms of sharp tuning in the cochlea under the supervision of Geoffrey Manley at McGill University, Montreal.

Another two-year stint as a postdoctoral researcher in Brusselswas spent focusing on the cognitive components of evoked cerebral potentials, before returning to Western Australia as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow. Professor Robertson then began lecturing in Physiology at UWA, where he has been based ever since, teaching and conducting neurophysiological research into mammalian hearing and deafness in The Auditory Laboratory.He is also an Expert Referee for many leading research journals, as well as a grant assessor for a number of prestigious national and international funding bodies.

Professor Robertson is currently conducting NRP-funded research into the molecular changes that occur in the brain following trauma to the inner ear. The project also involves testing a drug treatment to reverse both the electrical and molecular changes that occur in the brain following inner ear damage. The findings may translate to other sensory disturbances such as neuropathic pain and phantom limb sensations that result from injury to peripheral sensory nerves.

Current NRP Co-investigators:
Associate Professor Helmy Mulders, Assistant Professor Jenny Rodger (UWA)