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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 doctor to doctorate
An 11-year-old patient was the motivation for Aditi Vedi to specialise in paediatric oncology. “Everyone loved her. She was always smiling, despite being covered in bruises because her bone marrow wasn’t working. No matter what adversity threw at her she kept smiling. She had acute myeloid leukaemia, but she didn’t respond to several lines of […]
Breaking the chains
A film on human rights violations against the mentally ill in Indonesia was screened in the UK for the first time last week, followed by a discussion with the film’s director, NHS psychiatrists, human rights and public health researchers and Southeast Asia enthusiasts. The screening on Thursday of ‘Breaking the Chains’ was co-hosted by the Gates Cambridge […]
Mutiny in the Marianas
A new study on mutiny by Spanish soldiers in the Pacific region in the 17th century raises questions about the nature of loyalty to the empire-building process. Gates Cambridge Scholar Stephanie Mawson’s study is published in the June edition of the Journal of Pacific History. It focuses on the fledgling Spanish colony in the Marianas, the northernmostislands of a […]
Tackling inequality in computer science
When he went to university in South Africa, Riaz Moola came face to face with the huge differences in educational opportunity in his country, particularly in his own subject, computer science.Instead of just getting on with his course, he devised a way of tackling the problem and set up his own organisation which has trained […]
New association for synthetic biology
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has founded a European association of young researchers dedicated to fostering a community of synthetic biology students and postdocs, providing a central resource for interaction and professional development. The initiative has already attracted hundreds of members and won enthusiastic feedback from those in a fast-developing field. Christian Boehm [2013], who is […]
Raphael Lefevre wins Bill Gates Sr. Prize
Raphael Lefevre has been awarded the third Bill Gates Sr. Prize in recognition of his outstanding work on Middle Eastern politics. The Bill Gates Sr. Prize was established by the Gates Cambridge Trustees in June 2012 in recognition of Bill Gates Sr.’s role in establishing the Gates Cambridge Scholarships, over a decade of service as […]
Prize for glaucoma breakthrough
A paper by a Gates Cambridge alumnus on a novel mechanism by which stem cell transplantation may help to prevent glaucoma has won top prize at a prestigious ophthalmology awards ceremony. The research by Thomas V Johnson won first place at the Association for Research In Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)/Merck Innovative Ophthalmology Research Awards. Published […]
Child’s best friend?
Matt Cassels had at least 10 pets when he was growing up and yet it had never occurred to him to think about how important his relationships with them were…until he came to Cambridge and started working on a rich data set from the Toddlers Up Project led by Professor Claire Hughes at the Centre […]
Zoonotic outbreaks
Preventing the next major epidemic won’t be easy. But if social, veterinary, biological, and medical scientists work together, we’re much more likely to succeed. The latest Ebola epidemic in West Africa has killed almost 8,000 people. The fact that the virus originated in bats is powerful evidence that zoonoses (pathogens that jump between animals and […]
A role model for her community
Natalie Rebeyev is not only the first person to go to university in her family, but, as a Bukharian, she is one of very few women to study outside her local community. She is keen to use her own experience to open up the possibilities for other women in her community – a Jewish community originating in […]
