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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
Call for global partnerships to address brain injury in less wealthy countries
Nearly 75% of published neurosurgical trials are led by the world’s richest countries, with only 8%, excluding China, being led by lower income countries, according to a new study, which highlights how healthcare guidelines for people with head injuries is skewed towards countries with the most resources. The study, led by Gates Cambridge Scholar Dylan Griswold and published […]
Statement in relation to the Coronavirus Pandemic
The Gates Cambridge Trust, one of the University of Cambridge’s funding bodies which supports international postgraduate students, is doing everything necessary to support its scholars during the current Coronavirus pandemic. We fully understand the worry and concern that the pandemic has caused for our international scholars resident in Cambridge and away from their families. We are following government […]
Architecture on film
A Gates Cambridge Scholar is co-organising a public seminar this week on new methodologies in architectural historical research. Sofia Singler [2016] has been collaborating with acclaimed film director Virpi Suutari over the past year as part of her doctoral work, mainly in the role of consultant on the distinguished modern architect Alvar Aalto’s religious projects. In Suutari’s new film AALTO, […]
Large exoplanet could have the right conditions for life
Astronomers have found an exoplanet more than twice the size of Earth to be potentially habitable, opening the search for life to planets significantly larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. A team from the University of Cambridge, including Gates Cambridge Scholar Luis Welbanks [2017], used the mass, radius, and atmospheric data of the exoplanet K2-18b […]
Medic Mobile launches global health accelerator
A unique non-profit organisation, co-founded by a Gates Cambridge Scholar, which aims to advance good health for the hardest-to-reach communities has announced the creation of a new global health technology accelerator. Medic Mobile’s Medic Labs has $3 million in seed funding from The Rockefeller Foundation and will pursue ‘moonshot ideas’ – ideas which address huge problems, such as climate change, and propose […]
First batch of the class of 2020 announced
Twenty eight of the most academically outstanding and socially committed US citizens have been selected to be part of the 2020 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars at the University of Cambridge. The US Scholars-elect, who will take up their awards this October, are from 37 universities, including five institutions that have for the first time […]
On a mission to democratise genomics research
When he finished his PhD Dan Greenfield [2005] wanted to keep one foot in academia and the other in business. In the end, due to UK visa restrictions, he was forced to choose. He opted for business. That choice has proven fortuitous as he has co-founded a successful genomics company which aims to bring down […]
Measuring consciousness
How can we measure consciousness? And what role does understanding how the unconscious brain functions play in improving surgery and treating disorders of consciousness? A new study, on which Gates Cambridge Scholar Andrea Luppi and Thomas Varley are co-first authors, looks at how experts measure brain complexity, a key factor in addressing these questions. Previous research […]
Understanding how proteins fold
A new study co-authored by a Gates Cambridge Scholar sheds light on the mechanisms of protein folding and could be an important step towards developing treatments for age-related diseases. Lisa Neidhardt is co-first author of the study published in eLife Sciences. Lisa has also spoken about her findings at a recent UK and NL Chaperone […]
Double success for Chandler Robinson
A business venture started by Gates Cambridge Scholar Chandler Robinson recently IPO’d and experienced the “best first-day pop for an IPO since [Chinese tech company] Baidu in 2005”, according to Nasdaq News. After the initial public offering through which private companies seek to raise capital from public investors, the company’s stock price jumped 231 percent on its first […]
