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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
JustMilk wins Pitch@Palace competition
A Gates Cambridge Scholar and her partner have won a highly selective biotechnology competition where they pitched plans to commercialise their novel device for administering life-saving drugs to infants during breastfeeding. Rebekah Scheuerle [2013] and WD Armstrong Scholar Theresa Maier recently co-founded the non-profit JustMilk Limited to commercialise the device. At the start of March […]
Inside the Laurent Gbagbo trial
Lesson learned: always check the microphones. Just after the start of the Hague trial of former Côte d’Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo, prosecutor Eric MacDonald accidentally revealed the names of four anonymous prosecution witnesses within reach of a live microphone. The names were heard in the courtroom and the public gallery, and the recordings have been […]
Gates Cambridge to host first Biennial
A major gathering of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others takes place this summer at the inaugural Gates Cambridge Biennial. The opening keynote speaker at the event, which takes place in Cambridge from 15-17 July, will be Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International and a global expert on women’s rights. The event […]
Day of Service
Gates Cambridge Scholars will be holding a Day of Service with local charities in Cambridge in March to give back to their local community. On 5th March Scholars will be working with five local charities: WinterComfort for the Homeless, Cambridge Calais Refugee Action Group, Bounce!, Student Community Action and the Girl Scout Troop at RAF Alconbury. […]
Scholars tell their stories
Three Gates Cambridge Scholars will talk about personal experiences ranging from living with Syrian refugees in Turkey to growing up as a Muslim in the US at a session this week. The Scholars’ Stories session takes place at 7.30pm on 24th February in the Gates Cambridge Scholars Common Room*. Speakers include Karin Bashir [2015] ,who […]
A different perspective on healthcare
Eva-Maria Hempe has not been afraid to take risks or change direction in order to pursue her passion to drive change. As a school student she convinced her parents to let her go on an exchange programme to the US and switched focus from journalism to physics; as an undergraduate she changed university to do […]
Improvisation – the art of being spontaneous
Imagine that you are stranded on a deserted island and you are allowed to bring one object with you that can help you survive. What would you choose and why would you choose that? Sounds a little farfetched? How about scrambling to solve a crisis in your workplace or for that matter babysitting for your […]
New US Scholars selected for Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Thirty-five of the most academically brilliant and socially committed young people in the US have been selected for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship at the University of Cambridge. The US Scholars, who will take up their awards this autumn, are from 30 institutions. Five of them have never before had a successful Gates Cambridge Scholarship applicant, revealing […]
Renaissance woman?
When she was a child, Gillean Denny’s father would give her and her siblings spiral bound notebooks to write stories over the summer holidays. They got one cent for each word they wrote and five cents were taken off for every spelling mistake or grammar error. It instilled in her an early ability to write […]
Getting girls into STEM
Gates Cambridge Scholars are running a ‘Promoting Girls in STEM’ event in the local Cambridge community in March. The event will involve girls aged five to 14 from a local group of USA Girl Scouts overseas and will be held on 12th March. The event came about as part of the Gates Cambridge Community Service Committee and […]
