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
Experimental solar cells which could pave the way to more efficient solar panels have been created by a team of researchers, including Gates scholar Niraj Lal [2008]. In a paper […]
Five Gates alumni have spoken about life “in the real world” at the second annual Gates symposium last week. They included Anne Leone [2006], who did her PhD in Italian […]
Gates scholars have been invited to take part in what will be an annual dinner exchange with Weidenfeld scholars at Oxford University. Ten scholars from each scholarship programme will take […]
Gates scholars met the US Ambassador to the UK as part of his visit to Cambridge at the end of April. Ambassador Louis Susman specifically requested to meet with Gates […]
A Gates alumnus has been awarded a prestigious prize for a journal article on colonial architecture. Alex [George] Bremner, who studied for a PhD in the history and theory of […]
Twelve Gates scholars attended a reception hosted by the British Consulate General in New York in early May, followed by a visit to see the Tony-nominated Broadway play Arcadia. Gates […]
Amy Zhang started to play tennis at the age of five. By high school, she was competing in national tournaments and by her late teens she was combining tennis with […]
A Gates scholar is spearheading an initiative to create an Entrepreneurship Week in Rwanda to help lift the country out of poverty. Julia Fan Li [2008], who is studying for […]
Gates scholar Ivy Wong was interviewed this week on BBC Radio Four about her research into children’s colour preferences and gender identity. Ivy [2009], who is studying for a PhD […]
Former world leaders, leading academics and social entrepreneurs are to take part in a major conference of overseas scholars initiated by Gates Cambridge scholars. The Global Scholars’ Symposium (GSS) takes […]