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Benjamin Cocanougher

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

Latest News

Global South voices ‘marginalised in AI Ethics’

A Gates Cambridge Scholar is first author of a paper how AI Ethics is sidelining Global South voices, reinforcing marginalisation. The study, Distributive Epistemic Injustice in AI Ethics: A Co-productionist […]

First FRS for Gates Cambridge

Professor Alessio Ciulli has become the first Gates Cambridge Scholar to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society [FRS]. Professor Ciulli, the founder and Director of the University of […]

Honouring the legacy of Dr Arif Naveed

Friends and colleagues are raising money for a prize dedicated to the legacy of the late Gates Cambridge Scholar Arif Naveed. Arif [2014] was an outstanding educationalist with a deep […]

What kind of leadership do we need in today’s turbulent times?

Three Gates Cambridge Scholars who are leaders in community work, government and business discuss what kind of leadership we need in today’s turbulent world in the sixth episode of the […]

New DWP role for Gates Cambridge Scholar

A Gates Cambridge Scholar has been appointed by the UK Department of Work and Pensions [DWP] to help design innovative policies and data-driven evidence to support social welfare and wellbeing […]

A mission to improve the effectiveness of mental health services

Poor mental health is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and is linked to poor educational and professional outcomes and serious psychological distress. Over 75% of mental illnesses […]

Scholar named New Generation Thinker

Gates Cambridge Scholar Reetika Subramanian has been selected as one of six early years researchers in the 2025 New Generation Thinkers cohort. The scheme, which is supported by the UKRI […]

Scholar wins competition to find UK’s best science communicator

A Gates Cambridge Scholar has won the UK final of Famelab in the science communication competition’s 20th anniversary year. Spatika Jayaram was crowned UK winner at the ceremony in early […]

New book investigates history of US Patriot movement

A Gates Cambridge Scholar is preparing to publish her first book which examines the British political origins of the Patriot movement that inspired the American Revolution. Patriots Before Revolution: The […]

How do we encourage enterprise for the common good?

Three Scholars discuss how to encourage enterprise for the common good in the latest episode of the Gates Cambridge podcast, So, now what? Sandile Mtetwa [2017], Paolo Savaget [2015] and […]