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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
Olympics official to talk about what makes a good Games
The man responsible for overseeing the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics is to give his views on what makes for a good Games. Denis Oswald, a Swiss lawyer and former Olympic rower, is chairman of the 16-person International Olympic Committee’s Co-ordination Commission, a Professor of Law at Neuchâtel University and director of the International Center […]
Noa Epstein
Noa Epstein traces her involvement in the Israeli peace movement to an invitation to take part in a summer camp when she was 14. She was part of the Israeli delegation selected by the Ministry of Education to take part in Seeds of Peace, an organisation which aims to build friendships between Israeli and Arab […]
Gates Cambridge Scholarships Information Session for applicants from outside the USA
A Gates Cambridge Scholarship virtual information session for international applicants (i.e. those who must apply by the 1 December 2010 deadline)..The webinar was led by members of the Gates Scholars’ Alumni Association and discussed international education at University of Cambridge through the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, including: – Experiences of undertaking a graduate degree at the […]
Gates Scholars’ Distinguished Lecture: Anthony Lane of The New Yorker
Leading film critic Anthony Lane will speaks about the representation of violence in film.
Leading film critic to talk about representations of violence
Leading film critic Anthony Lane will speak about the representation of violence in a public lecture this week.Lane, a film critic and staff writer on The New Yorker, will give a Gates Distinguished Lecture entitled Don’t Look Now on 10th November at Gonville and Caius College.He describes his talk as “a brief enquiry into representations […]
Niamh Skelly
How do you help marginalised people? For Irish student Niamh Skelly this is more than a theoretical question. She is doing an MPhil in Social and Developmental Psychology, but has had hands-on experience of helping in groups dealing with homeless people and those at risk of homelessness as well as doing voluntary work with disadvantaged […]
Virtual Information Session for International applicants
A Gates Cambridge Scholarship virtual information session for international applicants (i.e. those who must apply by the 1 December 2010 deadline) will be held from 10:30am – 11:30am (Eastern Daylight Time)on Thursday 11 November, 2010. The webinar will be led by members of the Gates Scholars’ Alumni Association and will discuss international education at University […]
New Gates scholar works on emergency shelter
Gates scholar Victoria Lee has just finished working for an NGO in Switzerland giving guidelines on emergency shelter following natural disasters. Her work will feed into her PhD in Architecture, which she has just commenced, on the mismatches between how well a building can resist earthquakes and how effectively it can protect occupants from challenging […]
Victoria Lee
Victoria Lee had set her heart on becoming a doctor from an early age. Her great grandparents had been medical missionaries in Africa and she was inspired by their achievements and by the life of Albert Schweitzer. “I wanted to contribute to society,“ she said. However, when she got to MIT, she realised that medicine […]
Gates scholar to offer introduction to neuropsychological tests
Gates scholar Luning Sun will give a talk on Thursday on neuropsychological tests which measure how badly brain injury or psychiatric illness has affected the brain. The talk, A brief introduction to neuropsychological tests, is part of the Cambridge Psychometrics Centre Seminar series and will take place on Thursday at 2-3pm in the Seminar Room […]
