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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
Gates Alumnus writing for the Washington Post
Gates alumnus Arjun Parasher (2006) has become a contributor for the Washington Post’s Health Care Rx section. Arjun is currently a third year medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. While a Gates Scholar at Cambridge he undertook the MPhil in International Relations. Read Arjun’s articles on Obama and Pakistan, US […]
Gates Scholar wins prestigious mechanical engineering medal
Congratulations to Joan Ko (2006) who, in conjunction with Dr Dick Fenner (Centre for Sustainable Development), won the James Watt medal for 2009 by the Papers Panel of the Institution of Civil Engineers. This is for their paper entitled “Adoption of energy efficiency innovations in new UK housing” which was recently published in the Institution […]
Coffeehouse on Breaking into Politics
The past few years have seen an electrifying transition in the relationship between youth and politics. With the maturation of social media and communication tools, a younger generation of citizens are now able to engage in political elections, campaigning, advocacy and the political process in unprecedented numbers. This wave of youth participation has brought with […]
Gates Scholars win entrepreneurial prizes
Gates Scholars and Alumni have won prizes for their entrepreneurial ideas. Julia Fan Li, Apoorva Bhandari, Eva-Maria Hempe, Andrew Lynch and Rongjun Chen were involved in four of the 20 successful submissions that won the Cambridge Entrepreneurs prize. The £100 cash prizes were awarded for the best summaries of a business idea in not more […]
Noye’s Fludde rises to Cambridge
Carlos Del Cueto (PhD Musicology, Clare College) swaps the pen for the baton next week, when he conducts Noye’s Fludde by Benjamin Britten as part of the Cambridge Music Festival. It is a challenging work for a conductor, who is required to bring together the combined forces of children’s choir, professional soloists, and stratospheric recorders, […]
Rachel Pike gives climate talk at TED
In 4 minutes, atmospheric chemist and Gates Scholar Rachel Pike provides a glimpse of the massive scientific effort behind the bold headlines on climate change, with her team – one of thousands who contributed – taking a risky flights over the rainforest in pursuit of data on a key molecule. Rachel’s bio on the TED […]
Gates Scholar’s article picked up by international media
Congratulations to Molly Fox who has today published a first author article titled ‘Grandma Plays Favourites: X-Chromosome Relatedness and Sex-Specific Childhood Mortality’ in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The paper – summaried below – has been picked up by nespapers internationally, including articles in The New Scientist, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph,The Independent, […]
Gates Scholars at the Festival of Ideas
Gates Scholars Muhammad Irfan, Ian Ralby and Mateja Peter recently spoke at the University of Cambridge’s Festival of Ideas. The three formed a panel, chaired by Michael White from the Guardian newspaper, which discussed international justice. The scholars spoke on the Iraqi High Tribunal which sentenced Saddam Hussein, the World Trade Organisation’s commitment to ensuring […]
Launch of the Gates Scholars’ diaries!
We are delighted to announce the launch of the Gates Scholars’ diaries, a series of articles by Gates Scholars about their experience of various aspects of Cambridge. In the very first Gates Scholars’ diary Orian Welling talks about his experiences so far as one of the October 2009 entry of scholars. Read Orian’s diary Gates […]
New 2009 Gates Scholars arrive in the UK
The Trust is delighted to welcome the 2009 entry of Gates Cambridge Scholars! The 88 new scholars come from 33 different countries and most have just started their course at Cambridge. But before the academic year kicked off, the new scholars attended the Gates Scholars’ orientation programme in Ambleside – a picturesque spot in the […]
