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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
Inaugural Dinner and Dialogue on Isis, culture and conflict
Two Middle East specialists will moderate a discussion on ISIS, culture and conflict at a Dinner and Dialogue event organised by Gates Cambridge Scholars. Raphael Lefevre [2012] and Jose Ciro Martinez [2013] will moderate the event on Monday and kick off the discussion part of the evening based on their own research and expertise. Participants […]
Scholars to take part in Day of Service
Gates Cambridge Scholars will take part in their first large-scale Day of Service on 8 November as they join forces with various local or online service initatives. About 80 Scholars will participate in a range of activities organised by the Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council, from gardening and painting at the Wood Green Animal Shelter, spring […]
Fighting the stigma of mental disorders
Neha Kinariwalla was working with an epilepsy research group in Oxford when she came up with what seemed like a simple idea for destigmatising the illness which affects 50 million people around the world, many of whom have no access to treatment due to embarrassment about mental disorders. She decided to set up a website, […]
Alumnus named top innovator
A Gates Cambridge Alumnus has been named one of the top 100 leaders of innovation in Central and Eastern Europe. Jakub Szamalek is on the list of New Europe 100 created to promote innovation in Central and Eastern Europe by distinguishing those who are “the engine of positive change”. The list was compiled by Res […]
Mobile health ‘can support cancer care’
Mobile technologies can support and improve cancer care and other non-communicable diseases in developing countries, according to a new study. Gates Cambridge Scholar Isaac Holeman is lead author on the article entitled Mobile health for cancer in low to middle income countries: priorities for research and development, published in the European Journal of Cancer Care. […]
Scholars debunk idea that social egg freezing is empowering
Egg freezing for non-medical reasons is not empowering, according to four feminist scholars studying assistive reproductive technologies. In an article entitled “Breaking the Ice: Young Feminist Scholars of Reproductive Politics Reflect on Egg Freezing”, published this week in the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, the four women, including Gates Cambridge Alumna Katie Hammond […]
First internal symposium takes place this week
New research on toxoplasmosis, speech recovery after strokes, Macedonian views on The Merchant of Venice and second language learning will be showcased by Gates Cambridge Scholars at the first internal sympsium of the year on Tuesday. Speakers at the symposium are: – Bo Shuin Lai [2013], who is doing a PhD in Pathology, will talk […]
An environmental education
A Gates Cambridge Scholar will be leading a social media project which could become a key part of the environmental education syllabus of schoolchildren living in a protected area of Ireland. Cillian Ó Fathaigh [2014] has been selected by a conservation charity in Ireland, the Burrenbeo Trust, as the only Irish representative at the International […]
Chimps select the right tool for the job at hand
New research shows that chimpanzees search for the right tools from a key plant species when preparing to ‘ant dip’ – a crafty technique enabling them to feast on army ants without getting bitten. The study shows that army ants are not a poor substitute for preferred foods, but a staple part of chimpanzee diets. […]
Shaping the Single European Market in the field of foreign direct investment
A year after Philip Strik started his PhD in European Law in 2008 the Treaty of Lisbon came into force. As a result the European Union has acquired exclusive competence to conclude treaties in the field of foreign direct investment with third countries such as the United States and China. Philip’s studies came right at […]
