We're excited to announce that our lab has welcomed Dr. Sam Budoff—a recent PhD graduate whose research journey perfectly complements our mission to understand how the brain processes spatial information.
From Retina to Cochlea: A Natural Progression
Sam recently defended his doctoral thesis, "A Complete Spatial Map of Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells Reveals Density and Gene Expression Specializations," which revealed how different retinal cell types are spatially organized to support various visual functions. This groundbreaking work used cutting-edge spatial transcriptomics and machine learning to map the complete distribution of retinal ganglion cells—the neurons that transmit visual information from eye to brain.
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The connection to our lab's hearing research isn't coincidental. Both spatial vision and spatial hearing rely on similar computational principles: the brain must integrate information from multiple sensors (photoreceptors or hair cells) distributed across space (the retina or cochlea) to create meaningful perceptions of our environment.
A Track Record of Innovation
Before entering academia, Sam demonstrated exceptional leadership as the 13th employee at Modern Meadow, a biotechnology company that uses biofabrication to create sustainable materials. There, they built the biochemical analytics and high-throughput cell engineering departments from scratch—experience that proves invaluable for scaling innovative biotechnology solutions.
Their educational foundation spans multiple disciplines crucial for our work: a Master's in Applied Statistics, a Master's in Neuroengineering, and an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University combining Genetics and Neuroscience with Human and Organizational Development on the leadership track.
Introducing Parley Neurotech
Sam will serve as the new Chief Executive Officer of our spin-out company, Parley Neurotech. This startup addresses a critical need: helping the 800 million people who struggle to hear in crowded rooms but don't qualify for traditional hearing aids. This challenge—often called the "cocktail party problem"—affects many listeners, especially as they age, and has everything to do with how the brain processes spatial audio information rather than simple hearing acuity.
Sam has been working closely with Dr. Klug since before defending their thesis and joined full-time in April 2025 to lead both fundraising efforts and strategic development for this promising venture.
What's Coming Next
Starting next week, we'll launch a weekly blog series exploring the fascinating parallels between spatial vision and spatial hearing. These posts will dive into how both sensory systems solve similar computational challenges and what this teaches us about developing better treatments for hearing difficulties in noisy environments.
The intersection of spatial vision research and auditory neuroscience represents a powerful approach to understanding how our brains make sense of complex sensory environments—and how we can help when these systems don't work optimally.