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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
From Tirana via London
Andi Reci has always understood the importance of education. That understanding led him to come to the UK at the age of 18 and do an extra two years at a school in England to get British qualifications. The gamble appears to have paid off because this autumn he will become the first Gates Cambridge Scholar […]
Expert panel to address migrant crisis
A high-level international panel of experts in law, diplomacy and refugee rights will address the urgent need for a solution to Europe’s migrant crisis at a public event in Cambridge next week. The “Drowning Humanity?” discussion, which is being organised by the Cambridge Migration Society and supported by the Gates Cambridge Trust and Gates Cambridge […]
Rebooting the brain
When she started her PhD in 2012, Brielle Stark knew that she wanted to study the impact of strokes on language skills. Her uncle had suffered a bad stroke in her first year of university and she had witnessed the impact of that on her family. Brielle eventually decided that she would focus on language […]
Tool use is ‘innate’ in chimpanzees, but not bonobos
A new study has shown the first evidence of a species difference in the innate predisposition for tool use in our closest evolutionary cousins and could provide insight into how humans became the ultimate tool-using ape. The study, led by Gates Cambridge Alumna Dr Kathelijne Koops and published in the journal Scientific Reports, investigates the […]
Exploring the intersection between arts and science
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has been selected to take part in a programme for Europe’s most talented students which explores innovation, creativity and the intersection between music, arts and science. Rebekah Scheuerle will take part in the Roche Continents summer programme which takes place in Austria from August 11-17. The programme includes interdisciplinary workshops and lectures […]
A sedentary lifestyle
A Gates Cambridge Alumna has been awarded a prestigious prize for her research on healthy ageing which shows people over 60 spend 95% of their time in sedentary or light-intensity activity. Rajna Golubic [2010], who completed her PhD at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit in October 2014, was awarded the prize for the best observational study by […]
Towards a greener Guatemala
For the first time in its history, there are now more people living in cities in Guatemala than in rural areas and by 2050 it is projected that 85% of the population in Latin America will live in cities. Alejandro Rivera Rivera believes it is vital for countries like Guatemala to focus on how to […]
Protecting LGBTI people worldwide
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has participated in an international workshop aimed at enhancing the protection of LGBTI people around the globe. The LGBTI Rights: Global Activism, US Diplomacy conference in Washington DC was co-hosted by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and the United States Institute of Peace. The main purpose of […]
Visualising recession and recovery
A Gates Cambridge Alumna has won the first Bank of England data visualisation competition with an interactive web-based visualisation of recessions and recoveries. The competition, launched as part of the Bank’s One Bank Research Agenda, asked competitors to create a novel or insightful visual representation of Bank data sets that were made publicly available for the first […]
Opening up museum spaces
Elizabeth Ann Walsh grew up with an interest in different ways of being in the world and this has fed her interest in exploring how museums can open up spaces for source communities to share their stories and cultures. She has spent much of her time since her teenage years at New York’s American Museum […]
