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.
Centre College
Interested in learning more about careers after graduate school? Do you want to hear from Gates alumni about post-Cambridge life? This is the first-ever Gates Alumni Symposium, which has brought alumni to Cambridge to share their experiences in diverse post-university careers.
Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Scientists will come to Cambridge on 10 June 2010 for a full day conference to discuss high-technology for human performance. The Technology Ventures Conference is organized by the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC) including current Gates Scholars Andrew Marin, Amanda Scott, and Jonas Montilva. Discussion points: Will the 21st Century […]
In this lecture, Collier builds upon his renowned work on developing countries and the poorest populations to confront the global mismanagement of nature
Ghassemi’s father is the first person in his family to go into higher education. “He has a great reverence for education, believing it is the route to empowerment and that was the culture we grew up with at home,” says Ghassemi. He describes his mum, a Norwegian American, as “a brilliant woman”. She was all […]
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and Commander of United States European Command is to give a Gates Distinguished Lecture this month. The lecture will be at 6pm on 31 May 2010 at the Auditorium, Fitzwilliam College. Admiral James Stavridis will speak on ‘NATO in the 21st Century: Partnerships for Peace and Security’. Since the […]
Ian Wilmut, the famed Scottish biologist who created Dolly the cloned sheep, speaks as part of the Gates Distinguished Lecture Series.
Science – Facts and Frictions
Kathelijne Koops‘ research on chimpanzees has grabbed more headlines. Kathelijne’s most recent findings suggest that chimpanzees mourn the death of their own much like humans do. The co-authored article (PDF 450k) appeared in the magazine Current Biology and the findings were picked up by the BBC, the New Scientist and Discovery News. Previously, Kathelijne and […]
The two have just launched Stirr London, a forum bringing together investment bankers, politicians, non-governmental organisations, think tanks and scholars to address the major challenging issues of our time in a way that, says Forsyth, “breaks down the silos between the different groups”. The first session in March was on climate change and drew 65 […]
As a Gates scholar, she met brilliant students from all over the world who had different perspectives on many different things. This opened up her mind to new ways of seeing the world. She has clearly, however, always been the kind of person who likes to be challenged. Her decision to apply to the United […]