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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
First Gates Cambridge film festival launches
Films on immigrant teenagers in Israel, DNA origami, a paper crane and a local market trader will be shown at the first Scholar-Made Films Festival in February. The event takes place on 1st February and the film-makers of the four films will take part in a Q & A following the screening of their work. […]
A revolution in northern Syria?
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has recently taken part in a delegation to the Kurdish region of northern Syria which is calling for international aid and recognition of the new form of self-government being established there. Residents of the predominantly Kurdish areas of northern and northeastern Syria have established themselves as a new political entity that […]
Conference aims to inspire social enterprise
Four Gates Cambridge Scholars are taking part in the AnnualCambridge Catalyst Conference at the end of the month which aims to inspire and support those running or seeking to start a social enterprise. The Catalyst conference will take place on 31st January at the Judge Business School in Cambridge. Gates Cambridge Alumna Robyn Scott is […]
From dengue fever to bird conservation
Four Gates Cambridge Scholars will present their research on mapping dengue fever, treating different forms of dementia, understanding how Neanderthals may have aided human adaptation and turning the tide on species extinction at an internal symposium next week. The symposium takes place from 7-9pm on 20 January in the Gates Cambridge Scholars Common Room. Speakers […]
The legacy of trauma
Generations of marginalisation and trauma mean mental illness in Australia’s northern-most province – home to many indigenous people – often involves extreme and complex cases. Yet there are few mental health specialists working in the area and there is no child and adolescent in-patient unit. Patients have to be flown two and half hours to […]
Mapping dengue fever
Leah Katzelnick was all set for a career as an anthropologist until she contracted dengue fever. She was in hospital for a week with severe symptoms. It changed her life. She is now the only scientist focusing solely on dengue fever at the University of Cambridge, working in partnership with the National Institutes of Health […]
Tackling the role of ageing in MS progression
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease which affects more than 2.3 million people around the world. Patients are typically diagnosed around the age of 30. Initially, the early symptoms go into remission after attacks, but as patients get older the disorder starts to progress. Muktha Natrajan [2011] is studying why this happens with a view […]
Scholar wins prize for work on smart drugs for type 2 diabetes
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has won a prestigious prize for her research on a smart system for releasing type-2 diabetes drugs to patients over the long term so that they no longer damage their health if they miss a dose. Michelle Teplensky [2014] won the $500 National Student Paper Competition for the American Institute of […]
A computational approach to cancer
Dominique Kunciw [2013] is looking to find new ways to fight cancer through computational analysis and synthetic chemistry to discover what turns a healthy cell cancerous. She will present her work on a gene strongly implicated in breast cancer and several other cancers, such as skin cancer, at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 8th annual […]
Delivering on the global network
Fiona Beeming, currently Membership Services Manager at the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), has been appointed to the newly-created post of Gates Cambridge Alumni Relations Coordinator. As well as experience of the alumni relations sector, Fiona will bring an international perspective to the post. She speaks French, Spanish and Italian and […]
