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Benjamin Cocanougher

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

Latest News

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Putting local communities at the centre of conservation projects

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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 […]

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 […]

What the ocean can tell us about climate change

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Global climate change action

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GP clinics could help bridge mental health treatment gap, study finds

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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 […]

‘Weak institutions to blame for lack of growth in Middle East’

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