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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
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Latest News
President of World Bank leads speakers at this year’s GSS
The Director of the World Bank will join a range of internationally renowned speakers on subjects ranging from the environment and sexism to HIV, space exploration and indigenous rights at this year’s Global Scholars Symposium in May. Environmental activist David Suzuki; Tara Cullis, writer, president and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation; Erica Kochi, the […]
Measuring glacial melt
Evan Miles [2012] is wearing a short-sleeved shirt and sandals. It is mid-winter in the UK, but Evan is used to much colder weather. In the last 18 months since he started his PhD in Polar Studies, he has spent only around eight months in Cambridge. Most of the rest of his time has been […]
Leading geoscience expert to speak on science advocacy
A leading geoscience advocate who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize will be speaking about the dialogue between scientists and policy makers at a Gates Cambridge event this Thursday. As Director of Geoscience Policy, Kasey White leads the Geological Society of America’s advocacy efforts and provides scientific input into the policy process. Prior to her […]
New US Gates Cambridge Scholars announced
Forty of the most academically brilliant and socially committed young people in the US will take up a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge this autumn as the programme continues to expand to a diverse range of institutions across North America. The 40 Scholars represent 35 institutions, five of which have […]
A sense of service
Michael Masters‘ brief covers everything from squirrels chewing through power cables and causing power outages to tornados, flooding and acts of terrorism. As the Executive Director of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Cook County (DHSEM), the US’ second biggest county, he says his role is about preparing for and keeping up […]
From folk punk to county jail
Four Gates Cambridge Scholars will tell their stories about building for earthquake and typhoon resistance in the Philippines, walking the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, touring with a folk-punk band and working in a county jail at an event this week. Scholar’s Stories event takes place from 7-9pm in the Gates Cambridge Scholars Common […]
Epigenome breakthrough
A new computational method which can identify changes in the epigenome across human populations that are associated with diseases such as arthritis has been developed by a Gates Cambridge Scholar. James Zou leads a study on the method which has just been published in Nature Methods. There has been a lot of interest in finding […]
Investigating wildlife crime
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has won a £1,000 bursary to spend three months in South Africa researching wildlife crime on game reserves. Poaching has been rising in the last five years, especially rhino poaching, resulting in conservation concerns as well as threats to the lives of rangers and economic consequences, but the criminological aspects have […]
Survival in man-made habitats
Reptiles and amphibians whose forest habitat has been depleted by humans could have a better chance of survival in some types of agricultural settings than others, according to a new study on animal conservation. The study, just published in the online version of Biological Conservation and out in the print version later this month, is […]
From tooth fossils to drug resistant TB
The pros and cons of hydrogen fuel cells, reconstructing ancient diets through teeth fossils, making old buildings energy efficient and drug resistant TB are the subjects of this week’s Gates Cambridge internal symposium. The symposium offers Scholars the chance to present their research to their peers. It takes place from 7-9pm in the Gates Cambridge […]
