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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
Structural change
Researchers have conducted a detailed study of the protein structures behind diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, which could open up new avenues for research and potential treatment. The study, Structure of an Intermediate State in Protein Folding and Aggregation, is published in the current edition of the prestigious journal Science. Gates Cambridge alumnus Paul Robustelli […]
Sustainable solar power
Gates Cambridge scholar Talia Gershon has won the Tomorrow’s Answers Today 2012 UK Poster Competition for her research on sustainable solar energy. For her poster presentation Talia [2008], who is studying low-cost solar cell materials for her PhD in Materials Science, proposed solutions to some of the issues related to finding a sustainable supply of solar […]
A new vision for Gates Cambridge
Over 250 academics, business and social leaders and Gates Cambridge Alumni and Scholars attended the unveiling of the new vision for the Gates Cambridge Scholarships on Friday. At the event, which included the second annual graduation dinner for Scholars, it was announced that Bill and Melinda Gates had agreed to become Honorary Patrons of the […]
Gates Cambridge: Vision for the Future
A 20 minute film setting out the achievements of the Gates Cambridge programme and its vision for the future, screened at the event of the same name on 1 June 2012.
The ethics of addiction vaccines
Should people who are addicted to or might become addicted to drugs be given a vaccine to combat substance-use disorders or could this create new ethical problems? A new article on the moral issues raised by the development of a unique class of immunotherapies, co-authored by a Gates scholar, is published this month. The article, entitled […]
Matt Varilek wins Democrat ticket in South Dakota
Gates Cambridge alumnus Matt Varilek has been nominated as the Democratic challenger for South Dakota’s seat in the House of Representatives. Matt has defeated Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth in a primary contest. He was endorsed by Senator Tim Johnson and former Senators Tom Daschle and George McGovern. He will now face Republican representative Kristi […]
Scholars present research to Trustees
Five Gates Cambridge scholars presented their research to Bill Gates senior, other trustees, trust officers and scholars on Thursday. The Scholars’ Symposium encompassed research on subjects ranging from the links between reproductive cycles and Alzheimer’s in women, solar cell efficiency and the cooperative abilities of grouper fish to anti-poverty programmes taken up by women and […]
Bill Gates to celebrate scholars’ achievements
Leaders from academia, industry, politics and the charity sector will gather in Cambridge today to celebrate the achievements and impact of the Gates Cambridge Scholarships. Guests at the June 1 event will include the Chancellor of the University, Lord Sainsbury, Bill Gates Sr, representatives of the United Nations and US Embassy, and a number of […]
The law of the sea
It took me a while to realise I was standing ninety centimetres from eleven Somali pirates. On 12 October 2011, I was seeking shelter from the sun on a shaded balcony, slowly realising I was not going to find a seat in the main courtroom of the Supreme Court of the Seychelles. Judgment and sentence […]
The politics of healthy eating
Sarah Mummah was just an undergraduate when she set up her own non-profit tutoring and mentoring organisation and has built it up into an award-winning project with a team of over 30 undergraduates at its command. DreamCatchers aims to tackle the academic resources gap faced by poorer children in the Palo Alto area of California. […]
