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
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
The man responsible for overseeing the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics gives his views on what makes for a good Games.
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 […]
The man responsible for overseeing the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics is to give his views on what makes for a good Games. Denis Oswald, a Swiss lawyer and […]
Noa Epstein traces her involvement in the Israeli peace movement to an invitation to take part in a summer camp when she was 14. She was part of the Israeli […]
A Gates Cambridge Scholarship virtual information session for international applicants (i.e. those who must apply by the 1 December 2010 deadline)..The webinar was led by members of the Gates Scholars’ […]
Leading film critic Anthony Lane will speaks about the representation of violence in film.
Leading film critic Anthony Lane will speak about the representation of violence in a public lecture this week. Lane, a film critic and staff writer on The New Yorker, will […]