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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
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 […]
Mythmaking and Captain Cook
A Gates Cambridge Scholar is curating an exhibition at the University of Cambridge’s Library on the death of Captain Cook after winning the inaugural Cambridge University Library/History of Art Student Curatorial Competition. Julien Domercq’s exhibition, The Death of Captain Cook: Mythmaking in Print which is open until 19th July, examines how reports of Captain Cook’s […]
US ambassador meets Gates Cambridge Scholars
The US Ambassador to the UK visited Gates Cambridge Scholars last week and faced questions about a range of issues from overseas aid to Iraq, US Middle East policy, gender diversity, Ukraine and immigration controls. Ambassador Matthew Barzun told Gates Cambridge Scholars from countries ranging from Pakistan, Palestine and the US to Ukraine and Zimbabwe […]
Officers do charity cycle ride to mark D-Day
Two officers in the US armed forces are cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End starting this weekend to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Gates Cambridge Scholar Eric Washkewicz [pictured] and William McGee have both been doing their MPhils at the University of Cambridge and are about to return to their duties with the […]
Crafting new types of food and drink
A Gates Cambridge Alumnus and two partners have opened a craft brewery and foods hub in the US. Ronn Friedlander [2008], who did an MPhil in Clinical Biochemistry, is co-founder of the Aeronaut Brewing Company which has just opened in Somerville, Massachusetts. Aeronaut brings together innovative craft beer and local food production in one big […]
Poverty, economics and the importance of thinking local
When Gustavo Nicolas Paez started work at the Colombian Ministry of Health two years ago the first issue he dealt with was pricing health insurance. The insurance system assumed people go to hospital when they are sick, but this does not work for everyone, for instance, the very diverse indigenous communities living in the jungle. […]
Families of rhythm
Why do songs like “Good King Wenceslas” Christmas carol and the Beatle’s “Yellow Submarine” sound rhythmically similar? Research just published presents a new approach to understanding rhythm perception, based on the ideas of families of rhythms. The research, co-authored by Gates Cambridge Scholar Erica Cao and published in the journal Music Perception, is one of […]
Rethinking education
When he was growing up in a village in south Punjab, Arif Naveed was surrounded by a family who believed in the importance of education. He excelled, but as he got older and moved on to secondary school and university he started to question why he had done so well while other bright students in […]
An interactive future for all
A Gates Cambridge Alumnus has published the first book to address the challenges in developing state-of-the-art interactive technologies for the Indian population. Inclusive Human Machine Interaction for India by Pradipta Biswas has been published this month. It investigates the use of the latest interactive devices (such as eye-tracking and brain-computer interaction) by age-related or physically […]
Three Scholars to speak at NAFA symposium
Three Gates Cambridge Scholars will speak about their research on smart engineering, how to estimate the size of early man and whether mobile and wearable technology can boost health. The Scholars will speak at the National Association of Fellowships Special Internal Symposium on 27th June in the Gates Scholars Common Room. The Symposium is part […]
