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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
River life
Songqiao Yao [2014] came to environmental issues via an interest in community service, education and women’s rights. This broad-based interest has had an impact on the way she tackles environmental concerns. For the last few years she has been working on river advocacy in China, but recently has chosen to focus more on how the […]
Alumna wins gender and politics award
A Gates Cambridge Alumna has won an international award for her work on gender and politics from the International Political Science Association. Jennifer Piscopo [2002] has won the Wilma Rule Award for her paper, “Inclusive Institutions versus Feminist Advocacy: Women’s Legislative Committees and Caucuses in Latin America”. She presented her paper in July as part […]
SimPrints awarded major global health grant for maternal health project
University of Cambridge students who are piloting a fingerprint identification system for applications in global health, microfinance and fighting corruption have been awarded US$250,000 after winning a highly competitive seed grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Saving Lives at Birth competition. The grant will be partially matched (to the tune of US$180,000) by […]
Health risks of urbanisation of rural areas
The increasing urbanisation of rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa could lead to an explosion in incidences of heart disease and diabetes, according to a new study carried out in Uganda which found that even small changes towards more urban lifestyles was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Over 530 million people live […]
Adapt and survive
Understanding how animals can learn to adapt their behaviour to survive in a human-dominated world may help with conservation, according to a paper in a leading journal. The paper, on which Gates Cambridge Scholar Alison Greggor is first author, is published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. It argues that every animal occupies a unique […]
Bird brains or smart operators?
Corina Logan’s research aims to bring together biology and psychology to shed new light on the cognitive abilities of birds and other species. Her overarching interest is in the links between brain size and cognition and much of her research has focused on birds. She says she is keen to show people that birds are […]
Four Scholars speak at final symposium of the year
Four Gates Scholars will give the final internal symposium of the year on Thursday, covering topics ranging from RNA and synthetic biology to the barriers facing ex offenders after their release, molecular diffusion and African sleeping sickness. The symposium takes place from 7-9pm in the Gates Scholars Common Room. Devinn Lambert [2013], who is doing […]
Debt reduction in the Caribbean
A Gates Cambridge Alumnus has co-authored a book on the problems of debt reduction in the Caribbean. The book, Caribbean Renewal: Tackling Fiscal and Debt Challenges, published by the International Monetary Fund, is co-authored by Charles Amo-Yartey [2002], who did a PhD in Economics at the University of Cambridge. The book examines the problem of […]
Study reveals economic impact of El Niño
El Niño has a significant impact on the world and local economies – and not always for the worst – and countries should plan ahead to mitigate its effects, according to a new Working Paper from the University of Cambridge. The Paper, Fair weather or foul: the macroeconomic effects of El Niño, by Gates Cambridge […]
Africa’s higher education dilemma
Access to higher education is one of the most important factors affecting long-term economic growth in developing countries. This is a particular challenge for Africa, which needs capacity for 5.6 million more students than its current facilities can accommodate. The cost of constructing the additional physical infrastructure needed to bring Africa’s tertiary education enrolment rates […]
