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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
Alumna to head immigration organisation
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has been named executive director of an organisation focused on raising funds to finance existing legal services for undocumented individuals with no criminal background in the US. Wendi Adelson has been appointed head of the Immigration Partnership & Coalition (IMPAC) Fund. Prior to IMPAC, Adelson served as a law clerk to the […]
Study reveals mysterious equality with which grains pack it in
At the moment they come together, the individual grains in materials like sand and snow appear to have exactly the same probability of combining into any one of their many billions of possible arrangements, researchers have shown. The finding, by an international team of academics at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Brandeis University in […]
Success for farming start-up
A start-up company which helps sub-Saharan farmers to sell their goods has won a major prize. Farming Data, which was set up by three PhD students, including two Gates Cambridge Scholars, won the GROW agri-tech business plan competition which includes a cash prize and access to expert support, advice and lab space. It operates a mobile […]
A critical eye on Pakistan
Two scholars have set up a research cluster on Pakistan to explore innovative and critical scholarship on the country. Gates Cambridge Scholar Arif Naveed [2014] and Cambridge International Trust Scholar Mahvish Ahmad have established the ‘Critical Pakistan at Cambridge ‘Research Cluster, based initially at the Centre for South Asia Studies with membership from across the […]
Investigating the links between mental healthcare and poverty
Saloni Atal is determined to improve the availability of mental healthcare for women in the poorest communities of India. “Mental healthcare doesn’t get the attention it needs,” she says. “We do not tend to think mental health problems can cause suffering in the same way that illnesses like AIDS can. Years of productivity can also be lost. The […]
Empowering women in science
Sandile Mtetwa faced more potential hurdles to her education than many, but she has risen to the challenge. Sandile [2017], who is from Harare, Zimbabwe, fell pregnant before she started her university studies, but has not only set up a project aimed at empowering other young women, but gone on to be accepted onto a […]
Scholar selected as NASA astronaut candidate
Gates Cambridge Scholar Kayla Barron has been selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class and will report for duty in August 2017. Kayla [2010], who did an MPhil in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Cambridge after doing her undergraduate training at the US Naval Academy, worked as a Submarine Warfare Officer […]
Campaign launched against ‘exploitative academic publishing system’
Researchers need to stop exploiting themselves and discriminating against who can access their research, according to a new paper which launches a campaign to change academic culture. The article, We can shift academic culture through publishing choices, which is published on F1000Research, is by Corina Logan, a Gates Cambridge Scholar and Leverhulme Early Career Research […]
Connecting Caribbean students to mentors
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has launched a mentorship programme for Caribbean students to give them the information and support they need to pursue their chosen careers. Jerelle Joseph [2014] launched the non-profit organisation CariScholar last month. It aims to connect Caribbean students with appropriate academics and professionals who can give them guidance and advice. Jerelle […]
Exploring the role of religion in development
Hosna Jahan [2013] grew up travelling between Bangladesh and Australia. It made her question why policies that worked in some countries didn’t work in others and focus on addressing issues of social justice. She says: “I grew up seeing poverty at first hand. You can either see these things as natural or tragic. I travelled […]
