News
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
- Share
Latest News
Humans not responsible for chimp aggression
Chimpanzee aggression is not the result of interaction with humans and is something they naturally do, according to a new study co-authored by a former Gates Cambridge Scholar. The new study looks at decades of data from chimpanzees and their close relatives, bonobos (also called pygmy chimpanzees) and contradicts the theory which has emerged since […]
Reporting the world
When Justine Drennan arrived in Phnom Penh, she had little experience of journalism. Her time at Cambridge where she did a master’s in international relations had, however, given her a good understanding of international organisations – something that came in handy in a city which has the second largest number of NGOs per capita in […]
Scholar establishes Utah Ethical Leadership Awards
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has set up an ethical leadership awards programme in Utah to highlight best practices and inspire others. Libby Blanchard [2012], who is doing a PhD in Geography, collaborated with both the Community Foundation of Utah and the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah to set up the […]
Fish as good as chimpanzees at choosing the best partner for a task
Coral trout can now join chimpanzees as the only non-human species that can choose the right situation and the right partner to get the best result when collaboratively working, according to new research led by a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Coral trout are fast when chasing prey above the reefs of their habitat, but can’t pursue […]
What microfossils can tell us about climate change today
Stijn De Schepper [2002] is leading an international research collaboration which aims to understand climate change in the Pliocene – a geological time period from 5 to 2.5 million years ago when Earth’s climate was warmer than it is today. He says: “Geologists are drawn to the Pliocene to understand why global climate was warmer. […]
Improving fieldwork practice
A paper by a Gates Cambridge Scholar aimed at helping social science researchers embarking on fieldwork for the first time has been published by the Oxford Journal of Human Rights Practice. Njoki Wamai’s practice note, First Contact with the field: Experiences of an Early Career Researcher in the Context of National and International Politics in […]
New research on ‘hardcore’ Mau Mau women prisoners
New research on the treatment of ‘hardcore’ female Mau Mau prisoners by the British in the late 1950s sheds new light on how ideas about gender, deviancy and mental health shaped colonial practices of punishment. The research, published in the Journal of Eastern African Studies, was conducted by Gates Cambridge Scholar Katherine Bruce-Lockhart [2013] and […]
Towards a greater understanding of China Africa relations
For a continent where China is having a huge influence, there is very little awareness in Africa of all the implications, says Ross Anthony. He has just been appointed acting head of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa [pictured]. Ross [2005] says there is very little in the way of […]
Chinese workers in Japan: a complex picture
Chinese workers in Japan are more than passive victims of difficult work conditions and are able to use their own networks and provide mutual support, according to new research. The study, “Place making” in Kawakami: aspirations and migrant realities of Chinese “technical interns”, was led by Gates Cambridge Scholar Meng Liang [2010] and was published […]
Finding African energy solutions
Lorna Omondi knows first hand about the energy issues facing her country, Kenya. As a child, she loved to read, but much of her studying had to be done by candlelight or using a special pressure lamp with a cloth wick dipped in kerosene. This was due to the power cuts that were a frequent […]
