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
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Latest News
Bringing history to life
An 18th century Irish church which became a walled graveyard has been restored by a team led by a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Richard Butler [2012], who is doing a PhD in the history of art, was project supervisor for the restoration of Garryvurcha Church and graveyard in the small town of Bantry in County Cork […]
Fish oil wards off strokes
Eating at least two servings of oily fish a week can significantly reduce the risk of stroke, but taking fish oil supplements has no similar effect, according to a study co-led by a Gates Cambridge Scholar. The study, led by Gates Cambridge Scholar Dr Rajiv Chowdhury [2009] and Professor Oscar H. Franco at Erasmus MC […]
The ageing eyewitness
A Gates Cambridge Scholar who is studying eyewitness psychology has won The Manuel Lopez-Rey Prize for her MPhil in criminological research. Katrin Pfeil [2012], who has just begun her PhD, shares the prize with a criminology student. It is awarded by the Department of Criminology at the University of Cambridge for outstanding performance. Her research […]
Scholars tell their stories
Church restoration, choral music in primary school education, improving education and health outcomes for lower income children and a summer camp for children whose parents have cancer are the subjects of the latest session of Scholars’ Stories this week. The event, which aims to show a personal side of what inspires individual Gates Cambridge Scholars, […]
Small bird, big ambitions?
A Gates Cambridge Alumna has won a prestigious National Geographic Society grant to help her study a bird species which has developed innovative ways to find food despite having a relatively small brain. Corina Logan has been awarded a $14,172 Waitt Grant from the National Geographic Society. The grant for early years researchers funds projects […]
Breaking the cycle of crime
Why do children with criminal parents have a higher risk of committing crime? A Gates Cambridge Alumna has just published a book which seeks to answer a question which could have implications for the way the UK and other countries tackle crime. The book, Intergenerational Transmission of Criminal and Violent Behaviour, is based on Sytske […]
A stark choice
Women with uncertain immigration status who experience domestic violence face a a stark choice – living in destitution or being forced to stay with their abuser. Their plight has been little studied, but it will be discussed at an event on Saturday as part of this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas. The Violence Against Women: […]
Money vs mission
A social enterprise company aimed at making it easier for people with good ideas who are not well connected to get the ear of decision-makers has just published its first e-book giving advice to others seeking to build social enterprises that make money. OneLeap [oneleap.com] was founded by Gates Cambridge alumni Hamish Forsyth and Robyn […]
Building better futures
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has been recognised for her work administering a scholarship programme for Palestinian women students. Mona Jebril is interviewed in the current edition of the Kolmarian about her work administering the Kolmar Scholarship Programme, which aims to promote cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. The Programme has helps four students a year who are […]
Crystal clear
Oksana Ruzak now Trushkevych [2001] was one of the very first Gates Cambridge Scholars and remembers well the atmosphere at the outset of the scholarship programme in 2001. “It was an exciting time and we definitely all felt committed to the Gates vision from the start,” she says. “There were many meetings of scholars. We […]
