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
Congratulations to Gates Alumnus Colin Russell (PhD Zoology 2002) for winning the prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowship. To find out more about this fellowship please see http://royalsociety.org/funding.asp?id=1121
Congratulations to Sreenivasa Rao Kondapally Seshesai and Sebhat Erqou on their co-authored article in last week’s issue of The Lancet, one of the UK’s leading medical journals. Their work, on […]
Distinguished Lecture Series: Mr Mohammed Amin “Would Islamic Finance Have Prevented the Global Financial Crisis?” Mohammed Amin currently serves as the UK Head of Islamic Finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, […]
It is our pleasure to announce the programme for the 2009 Easter Term Gates Internal Symposium. Every term, the Internal subcommittee on the Gates Scholars’ Council organizes a symposium in […]
Distinguished Lecture Series: Rabbi Dr. Tvi Hersh Weinreb “Can a creation-based religion be consistent with science and evolution?” A leading member of the Orthodox Union addresses whether a creation-based religion […]
Distinguished Lecture Series: Vice-Chancellor Alison Richard “Cambridge and the Environment” Professor Alison Richard was installed as the 344th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 2003. The Vice-Chancellor is the […]
Distinguished Lecture Series: Ms Cathy Grieve “A Changing Media World” Ms Grieve, a highly distinguished journalist, served as the Ireland producer for BBC News during much of the 1990s […]
An update on our most recent news story. Congratulations are now due to both Vijay Kanuru, who won the prestigious Lowry Prize in the Department of Chemistry in Michaelmas Term, […]
The Trust is delighted to announce that 90 Gates Cambridge Scholarships have been awarded to outstanding young men and women from 32 countries to pursue graduate study and research at […]
5:00 – 6:15 PM BST/ 12:00 – 1:15 PM EST/ 9:00 – 10:15 AM PST Panelist Bios Registration This conference is free and open to the public. Synopsis Increasingly, […]