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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
Alumni weekend highlights health and community
Gates Cambridge alumni gathered in New York City earlier this month to explore a diverse range of research and work connecting health, community and the arts. The weekend gathering took place from 4-6 October and included a Gates Cambridge Alumni Symposium at New York University and the second annual Gates Cambridge Memorial Lecture, given by Leana Wen, […]
Provost begins term as president of The Society for Neuroscience
Gates Cambridge Provost Professor Barry Everitt will begin his term as The Society for Neuroscience’s new President later this month during Neuroscience 2019. In addition to his role at the Gates Cambridge Trust, Professor Everitt is also Director of Research, emeritus Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and a […]
Creating a global network for change
Since leaving the University of Cambridge Robyn Scott has led a series of inspiring social enterprises which aim to bring the brightest minds together to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges – echoing the mission of Gates Cambridge. For the last three years she has led Apolitical, a peer to peer […]
New research sheds light on the mechanisms of consciousness in the human brain
The drive to understand consciousness, and how mind arises from matter, is an ancient philosophical conundrum, popularised by philosophers such as Aristotle and Descartes. However, as our scientific understanding of the brain mechanisms of consciousness improves, it may also lead to improved clinical care for patients with disorders of consciousness, and patients who need general […]
Scholars to speak at 2019 Cambridge Festival of Ideas
Several Gates Cambridge Scholars are taking part in this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas which starts next week. The Festival runs from 14th to 27th October and celebrates the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences with over 270, mostly free, events. This year’s theme is change and participants include feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, MPs David Lammy […]
Celebrating Black History Month
October is Black History Month and Gates Cambridge Scholars have organised a raft of events to celebrate and raise awareness, ranging from speed mentoring sessions to a Black History Month Comedy Night and a panel discussion on anti-colonial research and activism. The events, most of which are internal Gates Cambridge events, kick off on 17th […]
Genomic study tackles causes of autoimmune diseases
A new study which uses genomics to trace the molecular pathways of autoimmune diseases has helped scientists to move one step closer to understanding the causes of asthma, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. A study, co-authored by Gates Cambridge Scholar Eddie Cano-Gamez, has shown that thousands of differences in DNA between individuals, associated with immune diseases, are linked with the switching-on […]
Towards more accurate diagnosis of a rare muscle disease
A Gates Cambridge Scholar is co-author on two papers relating to categorisation of a rare muscle disease, which could help clinicians make accurate diagnoses and paves the way for gene therapy trials. Ben Cocanougher [pictured] is first author of an article in the journal Neurology which seeks to classify MTM1-related myopathy, a rare X-linked muscle disease, in women. […]
Study finds cancer survivors have lower risk of Alzheimer’s
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has published a paper which takes a genetic approach to studying the inverse relationship between Alzheimers’s disease and cancer. Sahba Seddighi [2017] is lead author of the paper, Evidence of a Causal Association Between Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease: a Mendelian Randomization Analysis, published in Nature last week. There is limited evidence that cancer survivors have […]
The role of mental health in rehabilitation
Andrea Kusec’s research investigates a vital factor in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered a brain injury: mental health. One in three people suffer depression after brain injury and those who have suffered a brain injury are three times more likely to commit suicide compared to those without a brain injury. That depression, Andrea [2017] […]
