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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
Gates scholar highlights innovative Rising Stars programme
Gates scholar Niraj Lal [2008] has been featured in a British Science Association People and Science article on a pioneering communications programme run by the University of Cambridge. PhD student Niraj took part in the Rising Stars programme, which is run by the Community Affairs Department at the University and aims to give outstanding undergraduates, […]
Enmeshed in the prison system
For Alexandra Cox [2007], juggling her academic studies with on the ground work for prison reform goes hand in hand. So in the last year she has not only been writing up her PhD on criminology and beginning a prestigious fellowship programme, but also working inside prisons for real change. Her work on youth justice […]
Scholar talks about his research on the Uyghurs
Gates scholar Ross Anthony’s research into Xinjiang and the Uyghurs has seen him interviewed by the international media and he now hopes to write a book on the subject for a mainstream readership. Ross is in his fifth year at Cambridge, having done a masters and taking four years to complete his PhD in Social […]
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony only came to study China by accident, but his research into Xinjiang and the Uyghurs has seen him interviewed by the international media and he now hopes to write a book on the subject for a mainstream readership. Ross is in his fifth year at Cambridge, having done a masters and taking four […]
Alumnus launches online school books project
A Gates alumnus has launched an innovative books programme with online musicians to get people around the world to send books to schools in a deprived city in California. Tyler Hester, who graduated with an MPhil in Education from the University of Cambridge in 2007, formed the Richmond Book Drive earlier this year with indie […]
Gates scholar writes for The Guardian
Gates scholar Rachel Linn [2008] has written an article for the Guardian calling on the west to support democratic voices in Tunisia and stand up for political freedom. Rachel, who is doing a PhD in International Studies, wrote on the Comment is Free section of the Guardian of a meeting she had with Nejib Chebbi, […]
Gates alumna published in Nature
A Gates alumna has co-authored a paper in Nature this week on her research into where the next infectious disease to be passed from animals to humans will come from. The paper, Impacts of biodiversity and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases, coauthored by Dr Tiffany Bogich [2006], was published on 2 December. It […]
Tiffany Bogich
Tiffany Bogich’s research into where the next infectious disease to be passed from animals to humans will come from has already brought her co-authorship of an article in the leading science journal Nature. The paper, Impacts of biodiversity and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases, was published on 2 December. It reviews the evidence […]
Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Distinguished Lecture – Denis Oswald
The man responsible for overseeing the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics gives his views on what makes for a good Games.
Gates scholar comments on UK penal reform
Gates scholar Fiona Roughley [2010] has written an opinion piece on UK penal reform for the Sydney Morning Herald. In the article, Revolution behind bars may come at too high a price [20 November], she sets out the UK Government’s policy for reducing the number of people held in prison. She writes: “An interesting development […]
