In 2015, Andre Hoelz, the Mary and Charles Ferkel Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, learned he had a rare brain tumor that was pressing on his acoustic nerve. The chemist, who normally focuses on solving the structure of protein assemblies in the lab, set out to learn everything he could about the workings of the auditory system. Eventually he teamed up with his surgeon, Rick Friedman , who is also a research scientist and vice chair at