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
On Saturday, November 7, 2009, Gates Scholars Alumni and guests gathered in Santa Monica, California for a reunion luncheon at the gorgeous restaurant, Shutters-on-the-Beach. With views of the Pacific Ocean […]
Professor Robert Lethbridge, Master of Fitzwilliam College, is to succeed Dr Gordon Johnson as Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Trustees have announced. Professor Lethbridge, who has been Master […]
The Gates Cambridge Trust has decided upon an interview shortlist for applicants from the USA. The shortlisted candidates have been invited to interview in Annapolis, MD in early February 2010 […]
Gates alumnus Arjun Parasher (2006) has become a contributor for the Washington Post’s Health Care Rx section. Arjun is currently a third year medical student at the University of Miami […]
Congratulations to Joan Ko (2006) who, in conjunction with Dr Dick Fenner (Centre for Sustainable Development), won the James Watt medal for 2009 by the Papers Panel of the Institution […]
The past few years have seen an electrifying transition in the relationship between youth and politics. With the maturation of social media and communication tools, a younger generation of citizens […]
Gates Scholars and Alumni have won prizes for their entrepreneurial ideas. Julia Fan Li, Apoorva Bhandari, Eva-Maria Hempe, Andrew Lynch and Rongjun Chen were involved in four of the 20 […]
Carlos Del Cueto (PhD Musicology, Clare College) swaps the pen for the baton next week, when he conducts Noye’s Fludde by Benjamin Britten as part of the Cambridge Music Festival. […]
In 4 minutes, atmospheric chemist and Gates Scholar Rachel Pike provides a glimpse of the massive scientific effort behind the bold headlines on climate change, with her team – one […]
Congratulations to Molly Fox who has today published a first author article titled ‘Grandma Plays Favourites: X-Chromosome Relatedness and Sex-Specific Childhood Mortality’ in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. […]