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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
Democratising education
Education has traditionally been seen as a route of poverty, but without structural and curriculum change, says Caroline James, it will only perpetuate existing social inequities. The Gates Cambridge Scholar-Elect wants to democratise the education system by bringing in the voices of marginalised young people and she plans to start by doing research on foster […]
Crossing borders in transnational education
Nearly 100 people attended a recent event on transnational education in Shanghai designed to connect Gates Cambridge alumni with other alumni and NGO communities. The Crossing Borders in Transnational Education was organised by Anna Kathryn Kendrick at the Harvard Center Shanghai on 3rd March. The event explored how founders and directors of innovative start-ups and NGOs have managed an […]
Keeping the peace
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has co-edited a new book on the legacies of the two Hague Peace Conferences that were held before the outbreak of the First World War. Annalise Higgins has co-edited War, Peace and International Order? The Legacies of the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, which brings together some of the latest […]
Rethinking Classics
The vibrancy of Classics lies in part in how it can be used to rethink modern political issues. Yung In Chae’s research seeks to link the ancient and modern world to explore themes such as feminism and today’s political currents. To that end she is co-organising a panel debate in May on Classics and political […]
How climate change affects archaeological research
A Gates Cambridge Scholar is co-organising a student-led conference to look at the impact of current climate change on archaeological research. Margaret Comer and fellow Archaeology PhD students Rebecca Haboucha and Eva Meharry are organising ‘Modern Climate Change and the Practice of Archaeology’, which takes place at Jesus College, Cambridge, from 7-8 April. The conference is […]
Antimicrobial resistance: a cause for collaboration
The world is at a crossroads with regard to the threat represented by antimicrobial resistance [AMR], which in the long term could kill more people than climate change, the Chief Medical Officer for England warned in this year’s Gates Cambridge Annual Lecture. Speaking on Tuesday at St John’s College, Professor Dame Sally Davies said a […]
Stigma of crime affects later generations
Children of people with criminal records are significantly more likely to offend themselves and more likely to reoffend due to the stigma they face, according to a new study. The study, Labeling and Intergenerational Transmission of Crime: the Interaction between Criminal Justice Intervention and a Convicted Parent, is the first in 25 years to investigate […]
Exploring the stories of migrant medical workers
A Gates Cambridge Alumna has just published the first book-length ethnography of migrant medical workers in contemporary Southeast Asia. Megha Amrith’s book, Caring for strangers: Filipino medical workers in Asia, tells the personal stories of Filipino medical workers living and working in Singapore. It tracks them from Manila’s nursing schools, where they dream of glamorous, […]
The politics of justice
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has taken part in a podcast discussion on the future of the International Criminal Court. Georgiana Epure took part in the Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast last week. The podcast is a new project of the Centre for Governance and Human Rights Student Group at the University of Cambridge. Georgiana [2016] […]
Religion vs rights
The issue of minority rights in India has come more to the fore following the victory of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP. Sagnik Dutta [2016] has long been interested in the interaction between minority rights and the law, having spent several years working as a journalist in India covering the Supreme Court and the Muslim […]
