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
- Share
Latest News
How parent-child conversations affect children’s ability to self-regulate
Before she started her PhD, Mishika Mehrotra [2021] was working as an Instructor Therapist with children with autism. Her role involved implementing a behavioural therapy programme for the children, who were non-verbal. The programme led to an improvement in the children’s language and academic abilities, their ability to take care of themselves, to communicate via […]
A stethoscope for the brain
A Gates Cambridge Scholar is fundraising to publish a book about proactive strategies to prevent brain diseases. Ayan Mandal’s book A Stethoscope for the Brain aims to explain why brain diseases are so difficult to treat and what research is being done to learn how to better manage these conditions. Ayan [2018], who is currently a medical […]
Investigating climate policy at the third pole
Samira Patel [2022] is interested in how climate change-related policy works best in different community settings. Her PhD in Polar Studies, which she begins in the autumn, will investigate the links between policymaking in the Arctic and the Himalayan region, also referred to as ‘the third pole’. It will build on her master’s, also at […]
A poetic approach to research
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has turned to poetry to get her research across to a wider audience and her poems will go on display at this year’s Cambridge Festival. Mona Jebril [2012] has experimented with various different forms to get her research across to a broader group of people, from animation and comic illustrations to […]
Keeping music alive in the ruins of war
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has initiated a book drive to deliver music books to students at the Institute of Fine Arts in Mosul, Northern Iraq, after all their libraries and books were destroyed by ISIS. Collin Edouard [pictured below left] set up the Music for Mosul project after being invited to Iraq by a friend, […]
Previously undetected population complexity found in human lymphoid tissue B cells
B cells produce antibodies and play a vital role in human immunity. Despite the importance of these cells, there are still a lot of questions about the role of B cells in normal human tissues and how they are involved in various diseases. Gates Cambridge Scholar Jacqueline Siu’s study, Two subsets of human marginal zone […]
Gates Cambridge Scholars stage second Teach-a-thon
Why is understanding past oceans crucial for sustainability? How neutral is science? Is music a language? What helps us to understand what we read? These and many more fascinating questions will be answered at Gates Cambridge’s second week-long virtual Teach-a-thon as part of the Cambridge Festival in April. This is the second time that Scholars have […]
Study reveals a novel activation mechanism for Ste2
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has shed new light on an important G protein-coupled receptor [GPCR] which could help researchers to better understand and treat fungal diseases such as candidiasis and pulmonary aspergillosis. GPCRs are membrane proteins which are essential for signal transduction and communicating with an organism’s surrounding environment. GPCRs are divided into six classes […]
Gates Cambridge saddened by death of Dr Jonathan Nicholls
Gates Cambridge Provost Professor Barry Everitt has expressed the Trust’s sadness at the death of Dr Jonathan Nicholls, former Secretary to the Trust and former Registrary of the University. He said: “Everyone at Gates Cambridge – staff, scholars, alumni and trustees – will be saddened by the sad news of Jonathan’s untimely death. Jonathan was […]
How quickly is the universe expanding?
Erin Hayes is fascinated by how and why the universe came into being and how it is evolving. Her PhD in Astronomy, which she begins in the autumn, aims to classify different types of supernovae using light. To get the best results the measurements of stars’ brightness and distance need to be precise. The data […]
