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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
Stan Wang talks about creating non-embryonic stem for use n regenerative medicine
Gates Cambridge Scholar Stan Wang is pursuing a PhD in medicine supervised by recent Nobel Prize winner Sir John Gurdon. Stan works on a technique which takes tissue from any part the human body and gives it embryonic stem cell-like properties. This could have a huge impact on the world of regenerative medicine.
Timothy is applying his passion for technology to improving access to health and education in Africa
Gates Cambridge Scholar Timothy Kotin from Ghana is pursuing an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development and talks about how engineers can use their skills to aid development. Among his many achievements, Timothy has created E-coach Solutions – a start-up in Ghana which uses ICT tools to increase access to education and has over 5,000 […]
Bird watch
Which birds visit your garden and if so, how often? Do you feed them? Do they let you approach them? These any many other questions are part of a nationwide birdwatching survey which aims to involve members of the public in cataloguing bird behaviour. Alison Greggor, a Gates Cambridge scholar doing a PhD in Experimental […]
Scholars on film
A new series of videos featuring three Gates Cambridge Scholars has been launched on the Gates Cambridge Youtube channel and highlights research on regenerative medicine, how to address chronic hunger without eroding biodiversity and using ICT to promote sustainable development. Libby Blanchard, Timothy Kotin and Stan Wang are interviewed for the videos about their research, […]
Gates Cambridge seeks new Provost
The Gates Cambridge Trust was founded in 2000 from a generous endowment of $210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The endowment is managed to provide funds in perpetuity for Scholars to be fully-funded for MPhil or PhD programmes at Cambridge. To date, the Trust has provided Scholarships to over 1000 postgraduate Scholars from […]
The drama of politics
How important is literature to the popularisation of political ideas? In the 18th century, literature was probably the most important popular vehicle of ideas. Despite the audience for plays being less diverse than in Shakespearean times, plays offered a philosophical battlefield for writers. Marc Mierowsky [2011] is researching how ideas of political sovereignty were transmitted […]
Evolutionary tools
A Gates Cambridge Scholar will present her work on the possible relationships between nut-cracking behaviour in chimpanzees and the possible origins of the oldest stone age technologies at an international conference this week. Victoria Tobolsky will speak at the Unravelling Human Origins conference in Cambridge on Friday. She will be presenting a chapter of her […]
Refugee health
Lucinda Lai [2012] spent the year before her MPhil working on mental health issues with Burmese refugees along the Thai/Burma border and is helping to write a book about these experiences. Her organisation’s work involved training local Burmese counsellors and partner organisations in understanding mental health and spotting signs of mental health problems such as […]
Flexible technology
Chris Boyce [2011] has two passions: his research into new energy technologies to mitigate carbon emissions and a family business which he set up just after high school. His research, for which he is doing a PhD in Chemical Engineering, involves imaging and modelling fundamental aspects of fluidised beds to make carbon capture and sequestration […]
Beware of neuro-bunk
Can a cheese sandwich or chocolate help you make better decisions? Can a brain scan cure mental illness? Or are these just two examples of neuro-bunk, where neuroscience is being overly simplified and distorted to sell products and newspapers? In a recent TED talk, neuroscientist and Gates Cambridge Alumna Molly Crockett [2006] talks about how […]
