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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
Medical ethics and repatriation
A Gates Cambridge alumnus has received a prestigious prize in medical ethics from Harvard Medical School. Michael Young [2011], who completed an MPhil in Philosophy in 2012, has won the Beecher Prize in Medical Ethics for his essay on the ethical and philosophical dimensions of medical repatriation and immigrant healthcare. He recently completed his first year […]
A passion for automobiles
Jonathan Miller [2006] has been obsessed with cars since he was a baby and had a toy car in his crib. Growing up, most of his toys were car related; he had car wallpaper and was always watching car-related films and videos. He dreamed of being a stunt car driver and at 14 owned his […]
Gates Cambridge Scholar profile: Alex Vail
Alex Vail talks about his research on how fish hunt collaboratively and how people’s attitudes about fish are crucial to conservation.
Eduardo Machicado Murillo – Gates Cambridge Scholar Profile
A three-minute profile of Gates Cambridge Scholar Eduardo Machicado Murillo who is undertaking research on archaeology in Bolivia.
First winner of Bill Gates Sr Prize announced
Gates Cambridge Scholar Rajiv Chowdhury has been awarded the first Bill Gates Senior Prize in recognition of his outstanding work in public health. The Bill Gates Sr. Prize was established by the Gates Cambridge Trustees in June 2012 in recognition of Bill Gates Sr.’s role in establishing the Gates Cambridge Scholarships, over a decade of […]
Bacterial patterns
Despite bacterial colonies always forming circular shapes as they grow, their cells form internal divisions which are highly asymmetrical and branched. These fractal (self-similar) patterns are due to the physical forces and local instabilities that are a natural part of bacterial cell growth, a new study reveals. The research, published in the scientific journal ACS Synthetic […]
Tackling the global burden of chronic illness
People tend to think that chronic diseases such as cancer are illnesses of wealthy countries, but increasingly they make up a major share of the public health burden in developing countries. In richer countries there is a lot of focus on genomics – understanding the genetic links to chronic disease, but Gates Cambridge Alumnus Mikkel […]
Mali: war and medicine
Bacterial meningitis can kill a perfectly healthy person in less than 48 hours. The disease is particularly feared in the African meningitis belt, which stretches across central Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia. Over the past century, hundreds of thousands of people have suffered from meningitis in the region. Vaccination is the single most powerful way […]
Understanding the military context
The structure, functions and behaviour of the military are key factors in understanding the development of conditions that allow for military seizures of power, but often receive little attention, according to a new study by a Gates Cambridge Alumnus and serving military officer. In an article entitled The Soldier and the State in the Congo […]
Deer culls not the only answer
Culling deer will not aid woodland conservation in the absence of other factors, according to a new study by three researchers, including two Gates Cambridge alumni. The research in the Scottish Highlands, published in Ecology and Evolution, looks at the threat posed by high deer populations to woodlands and grasslands. The study suggests that deer […]
