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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
Talking TED
A Gates Cambridge Scholar will speak about his research into the creation of non-embryonic stem cells at a TEDxOxbridge event in Oxford in June. Stan Wang [2011] will speak on 1st June about the research he has been doing on non-embryonic stem cells for use in regenerative medicine with recent Nobel Prize winner, Sir John […]
Gates Cambridge seeks Programme Assistant
Programme Assistant – Gates Cambridge Gates Cambridge is looking for a Programme Assistant to join its small friendly team in its Bridge Street offices. The Programme Assistant will be the most junior member of the team and will report to the Programme Administrator. The Gates Cambridge Scholarships are the University of Cambridge’s flagship international scholarship […]
Bones of contention
Why is childbirth sometimes so difficult, compared to the experience of other animals? Victoria Tobolsky [2012] is looking for clues in our evolutionary history. She is studying modern women’s pelvic capacity and its links to childbirth difficulties. Her interest centres on how factors like nutrition and an unstable environment impact on pelvic development, but she […]
Why isn’t Britain growing?
An associate director of the UK’s leading left-of-centre think tank will talk about British economic policy at a Gates Cambridge webinar next week. In a talk entitled “Why isn’t Britain growing?”, Will Straw, Associate Director for Climate Change, Energy and Transport at The Institute for Public Policy Research, will discuss the drivers and challenges of […]
Forest life
Policies on conservation and deforestation often fail to help the people who live in rural areas. Albert Arhin’s research focuses on how to reward local communities for conservation initiatives and make them see the benefit they can give them. He is focusing on REDD Plus, an international climate change framework aimed at rewarding actions that […]
China expert in conversation
One of the world’s leading experts on Chinese business will be in conversation with Gates Cambridge Scholars next week. Professor Peter Nolan will speak on the subject of “China and the Crossroads of Globalisation” at 6:30pm on Monday 6 May as part of the Gates Conversation series. Professor Nolan is one of the leading experts […]
Illusions of superiority
Do we overestimate our abilities and only see what we want to see? Scientific research suggests that we do and that in fact depressed people probably have a more accurate idea of themselves than others. Our ‘illusions of superiority’ is just one of a diverse range of talks at next week’s Internal Symposium. Other subjects […]
Efficient engines
Orian Welling’s PhD research on increasing engine efficiency is the result of a lifetime of interest in renewable energy and efficient transportation. Indeed, Orian was interviewed for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship while completing a bicycle trip from South Africa to Egypt, his second epic cycling trip. Before starting his undergraduate degree, he pedalled 15,000 miles […]
Fishing for signals
Fish have the ability to communicate with each other while hunting their prey in ways that were previously known only for humans, great apes, and ravens, according to new research. A study led by Alexander Vail, a Gates Cambridge Scholar at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, found that groupers and coral trout perform […]
Dalai Lama speaks at Global Scholars Symposium
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama told the Global Scholars Symposium today that the 20th century was focused on us and them divisions and that the new century required people to come together to tackle global challenges. Speaking at the Cambridge Union, the Dalai Lama said reducing the gap between rich and poor was the […]
