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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
Rethinking the Americas
A Gates Cambridge Scholar participated in last week’s Paris Peace Forum, a global summit founded by French President Emmanuel Macron. Emiliano Cabrera-Rocha [2019] represented Catalyst: Rethinking the Americas, a nascent organisation he is co-founding with a group of activists and scholars from across the Western Hemisphere. The organisation was on a panel about new approaches to drug policy on November 13th. Emiliano co-presented Catalyst’s Rethinking the […]
Humans and robot to debate the future of AI
A Gates Cambridge Scholar will be one of a number of humans who will debate against a robot at the Cambridge Union in a live experiment this week. Sharmila Parmanand, an international debate coach, will take part in the debate on 21st November, entitled “Artificial Intelligence will bring more harm than good in the next decade”. […]
What the ocean can tell us about climate change
Dr Jimin Yu is an Associate Professor in the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University and an expert in paleoceanography. He says his time at the University of Cambridge, part of which was funded by the Gates Cambridge Trust, marked a big turning point in his life and changed his research […]
Global climate change action
Four Gates Cambridge Scholars will take part in the first themed internal symposium on Global Climate Change and Individual Action this week. The symposium on November 14th is being conducted in collaboration with the Gates Climate Group, a scholar-led initiative that works to address the urgent need to tackle human-made climate change. The group aims to further the Gates […]
GP clinics could help bridge mental health treatment gap, study finds
Patients experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues could be managed effectively by GP practices, suggests new research by the University of Cambridge. However, specialist treatment may still prove more cost-effective in the long term, say the researchers. The research was based on a trial carried out by Gates Cambridge Scholar Dr Sabrina Anjara [2014] in […]
Coding for life
When she was an undergraduate Kiera Peltz [2017] attended a careers fair where the majority of employers were tech companies. She was asked if she knew how to code. She didn’t and left feeling slightly deflated and that she should learn coding as soon as she could. A friend who grew up in Silicon Valley […]
‘Weak institutions to blame for lack of growth in Middle East’
A new book which addresses how Arab countries can escape a “resource curse” in which oil and gas riches don’t translate into long-term economic growth and stability has been co-edited by Gates Cambridge Scholar Kamiar Mohaddes and is being launched at an event next week. The Arab region that includes the six Gulf Cooperation Council […]
Punjab education reforms ‘not cream-skimming’
An important reform brought in by Pakistan’s most populous province which aims to get more children into education is reaching the more disadvantaged districts, according to an important new study on access. The study of Public Private Partnership (PPP) schools in Punjab, by Gates Cambridge Scholar Ali Ansari, is thought to be the first to […]
Festival exhibition celebrates Mexico’s displaced populations
A Gates Cambridge Scholar is co-curating an Altar of the Dead exhibition at this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas to rise awareness about past and present migrants and minorities in Mexico. Jessica Fernández de Lara Harada [2016], who is doing a PhD in Latin American Studies, is curating the event at the University of Cambridge’s Museum […]
Understanding hereditary spastic paraplegia
Eliska Zlamalova’s research combines neuroscience and molecular genetics as she seeks to understand the cause of a progressive genetic disorder which causes paralysis of the lower limbs. At the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Medical Research, she is working on a project looking into hereditary spastic paraplegia, a general term for a group of rare […]
