News
Benjamin Cocanougher
- Alumni
- United States
- 2016 PhD Zoology
- St Catharine's College
I grew up catching praying mantises and damselflies in rural Kentucky. As an undergraduate at Centre College, I majored in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; I spent my summers taking care of sick children at the Center for Courageous Kids and doing research in organic chemistry and neuroscience. I matriculated directly to the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and completed my first three years of medical school. I then moved to Janelia Research Campus as a HHMI Medical Research Fellow; there I studied the neural and genetic bases of behavior. As a PhD student in Zoology, I will study adaptive behavior. All animals integrate information about past experience into future decisions; this is the basis of learning and memory. I am proposing to write a specific memory and read the memory trace in the brain. I will use the fruit fly as a model organism. By understanding mechanisms of memory storage, we can begin to investigate changes in memory formation in disease; this may allow us to develop rational therapies for disorders of memory formation, including autism and Alzheimer’s disease. After completing my PhD, I will return to finish my last year of medical school and pursue a career as a child neurologist and neuroscientist, using my lab to better understand the patients I see in clinic.
Previous Education
Centre College
- Share
Latest News
Families of rhythm
Why do songs like “Good King Wenceslas” Christmas carol and the Beatle’s “Yellow Submarine” sound rhythmically similar? Research just published presents a new approach to understanding rhythm perception, based on […]
Rethinking education
When he was growing up in a village in south Punjab, Arif Naveed was surrounded by a family who believed in the importance of education. He excelled, but as he […]
An interactive future for all
A Gates Cambridge Alumnus has published the first book to address the challenges in developing state-of-the-art interactive technologies for the Indian population. Inclusive Human Machine Interaction for India by Pradipta […]
Three Scholars to speak at NAFA symposium
Three Gates Cambridge Scholars will speak about their research on smart engineering, how to estimate the size of early man and whether mobile and wearable technology can boost health. The […]
Mental health and well being in Asia
As a young student, Sabrina Anjara thought research was a bit detached from real life. She has since proven herself wrong. Her master’s thesis was the first empirical study of […]
SimPrints to pilot in Bangladesh
Gates Cambridge Scholars are teaming up with a mobile health organisation in Bangladesh to pilot a fingerprint identification service which could have implications for global health, microfinance and fighting corruption. […]
Deforestation starves fish
Research led by a Gates Cambridge Scholar shows forest debris that drains into lakes is an important contributor to freshwater food chains – bolstering fish diets to the extent that […]
Out of the margins of history
The history of the transportation of convicts between Mexico and the Philippines is little studied and throws up interesting and often messy details about the nature of colonisation in the […]
Protecting forest communities
The vagueness of safeguards aimed at protecting the interests of forest communities may mean that they end up being marginalised from moves to conserve their environment, according to research by a Gates […]
Start-up savvy
Two Gates Cambridge Scholars who have set up social enterprises in the health and education sectors and an Alumnus who advises technology start-ups will share their experiences at an event […]
