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.
Centre College
Daniel Storisteanu (2012) is a bit of a polyglot. He has always been torn between zoology and medicine and is about to begin a PhD focused on virology. He also […]
Applications for the University of Cambridge and Gates Cambridge Scholarships open on 1 September. To apply for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, you must apply for both a Gates Cambridge […]
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Most development specialists focus on the 1970s and onwards when they talk about the origins of the current global situation, but Luke Fletcher [2010] believes it is vital to look […]
A Gates Cambridge Alumnus oversaw the policing of a major political rally in Germany in early August. Dirk-Hinrich Haar [2005] is Superintendent for Germany’s Federal Police and Deputy Chief of […]
Do you want to apply for a prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship? Then find out all the information you need at a webinar on 6 September. The webinar will be hosted […]
The new Gates Cambridge Alumni Association Board of Directors has been announced. Co-Chairs are Nathan George (USA, 2003) and Mamta Thangaraj (India, 2003). Nathan, the GCAA’s former Membership Director (USA), […]
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