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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
Saving the Amazonian jaguar
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has taken part in a remarkable project to help ensure the survival of jaguars in Peru through the use of statistics, mathematical modelling, virtual technology and knowledge from indigenous people living in the Amazon. Jacqueline Davis took part in a four-week expedition to some of Peru’s deepest jungles organised by the […]
What works in global health
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has contributed to a new book which highlights 18 proven success stories in global health and aims to show what policies and practice make a major difference to people’s lives. Rachel Silverman [2013], who did her MPhil in Public Health as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, helped edit the book, Millions Saved: […]
Scholar wins Early Career Research Award
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has been awarded the prestigious Early Career Research Award for Energy and Metabolism by the Biochemical Society in recognition of his exceptional work as a molecular bioscientist. Edward Chouchani [2008], who did his PhD in Biological Science at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, won the £1,000 prize […]
Global education advocate
Gates Cambridge Scholar Carlos Gonzalez Sierra has been selected as one of 16 members of the youth panel of an international commission on financing global education. Carlos [2015], who is doing an MPhil in Latin American Studies, will join Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and 14 other youth leaders on the International Commission on Financing […]
Gates Cambridge Hult Prize success
Two social enterprises involving Gates Cambridge Scholars took part in the prestigious Hult Prize regional rounds this weekend, with SimPrints being chosen to go through to the global finals later this year. SimPrints was named overall winner of the London regionals of the Hult Prize while Favalley was one of five runners-up in its first […]
Funding international research
Maria Pawlowska is keen to promote international scientific collaborations and her new role coordinating the International Research Agendas programme at the Foundation for Polish Science means she is in a key position to bring the most talented researchers from around the world together. The Foundation for Polish Science has been in existence for over two decades and is the largest […]
From meningitis to the regeneration of biliary tissue
Three Gates Cambridge Scholars will be speaking about their research on meningitis, links between classical and current debates around sexual trauma and the regeneration of biliary tissue outside the liver at an internal symposium this Thursday. Casey Rimland, Nikolas Oktaba and Laura Cooper will speak at the event on March 10th. Casey will describe her […]
Feminism in Hip-Hop
A Gates Cambridge Scholar will be performing a piece about feminism in Hip-Hop at an event International Women’s Day event in Cambridge on Wednesday. Aya Waller-Bey’s performance, entitled Pass the Mic: Feminism in Hip-Hop, will recount the history of Hip-Hop, inserting Black women and the irreconcilable tension they face to support music and a culture […]
Computers create musical
A Gates Cambridge alumnus has worked on the world’s first computer-generated musical. The musical, Beyond the Fence, opened in London’s West End on 22nd February and runs until 5th March. Commissioned by SkyArts, it is based on a big data statistical study of what makes a Broadway hit. Alex Davies [2010] and colleagues in the […]
Scholar shortlisted for BBC New Generation Thinker
A Gates Cambridge Scholar doing a PhD in Medical History has been shortlisted to be a BBC New Generation Thinker 2016. Kathryn Crowcroft has been shortlisted for the scheme, which is run jointly by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It receives hundreds of applications from academics at the start of their […]
