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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
STEM for Britain
Gates Cambridge Scholar Michelle Teplensky has been selected for a prestigious event which will see a poster of her research displayed in the UK Parliament. Michelle [2014] was chosen for STEM for BRITAIN which aims to encourage, support and promote Britain’s early-stage and early-career research scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians. It gives scientists the chance to go to […]
Trapped in the juvenile justice system
Juvenile justice systems aimed at changing the lives of young people for the better are instead trapping them in a vice-like system they struggle to move beyond, according to a new book by Gates Cambridge Scholar Dr Alexandra Cox. Trapped in a Vice: The Consequences of Confinement for Young People is the result of a three-year […]
The science of bread
Almost every day that she was doing her PhD at Cambridge Shrivalli Bhat would have a supermarket-bought sandwich for her lunch and every day she would feel guilty. She has always been very health conscious and preferred to eat home-made food, but she was too impatient to spend hours making her own bread. Now she and a […]
From the poetry of the everyday to life as a refugee in Calais
Four Gates Cambridge Scholars will be talking about everything from how poetry illuminates everyday life to their experiences working with refugees and in war zones as part of a Scholars Stories event on Wednesday. The four scholars taking part are: – Nicolas Paez [2015], whose talk is entitled How to fall from a horse. He will […]
Cultivating a special community
When she left Cambridge University Rebecca Saunderson missed the stimulation of the Gates community so much that she became involved in the Gates Cambridge Alumni Association. Now its co-chair, she has devoted a lot of energy to building links and networking opportunities and says there is a good momentum building. Her first co-chair was fellow […]
Scholar to launch memoir at Cambridge event
Author and Gates Cambridge Scholar Tara Westover will be launching her memoir in Cambridge on 28th February. The book, “Educated”, is published by Hutchinson and was bought for a six-figure sum within 24 hours of the submission being sent out. It has sold rights in 20 territories and is being compared to classics of the […]
Plugging the gaps in global health data
Neonatal mortality accounts for 45% of child mortality in Kenya. A set of key health system challenges undermine newborn survival in more deprived areas.These include, limited access to quality care for sick newborns and inadequate availability of appropriately skilled human resources. A project co-led by Gates Cambridge Scholar Georgina Murphy [2010] is investigating the gaps […]
Astronomy prize recognises work on most luminous galaxies
Gates Cambridge Scholar Caitlin Casey has been awarded an outstanding early-career achievement prize by the American Astronomical Society. Casey [2007], who is an assistant professor in the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Astronomy, was awarded the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize at the Society’s semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The organisation awards the prize […]
Modern climate change and the practice of Archaeology
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has co-edited the latest edition of a prestigious Archaeology journal which has a special focus on climate change. Margaret Comer is co-editor of Volume 32.2 of the Archaeological Review from Cambridge, entitled ‘On the Edge of the Anthropocene? Modern Climate Change and the Practice of Archaeology’. The journal was launched at a […]
Can gender equality change the face of poverty?
The Director of Gender Equality at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will deliver this year’s Gates Cambridge Annual Lecture on whether gender equality can change the face of poverty. Sarah Hendriks will deliver the lecture entitled “What if…Gender equality could change the face of poverty?” on 13th February. It will explore the data and […]
