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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
First map of oil palm sustainability interventions
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Why we need to tackle the problem of overconsumption
The wealthiest in the world need to reduce their over-consumption in order for climate change goals to be met and for the sustainability of the planet, Professor Bhaskar Vira told a gathering of Gates Cambridge alumni at the weekend. Professor Vira, a Gates Cambridge Trustee and soon to be Pro Vice Chancellor for Education as […]
Championing a new generation of writers
Deus Kansiime [2022] became fascinated as an undergraduate student in Uganda by the gap between the literature he was being taught and the literary texts that had currency on the Ugandan cultural scene. These texts were produced by an emerging generation of writers about whom his university professors knew very little about or had very little […]
Tackling misinformation about climate change
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Exploring a complex political and social identity
When she started studying law, Alaa Hajyahia [2022] saw it as a potential instrument for justice, but as she continued the schism between what it says and the political and social context in which it operates brought more questions than answers. Being one of just a handful of Palestinian students at Tel Aviv University’s (TAU) […]
New model can predict brain injury recovery more accurately
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Addressing food insecurity through plant science
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Taking a critical approach to precision oncology
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‘Glaring’ lack of diversity identified in journal editorial teams
Only a third of editors on journal editorial teams in environmental sciences and public health are women and less than a quarter are affiliated to institutions in low- and middle- income countries, according to a new study. The study, “Challenging the “Old Boys Club” in Academia: Gender and Geographic Representation in Editorial Boards of Journals […]
Exploring at the intersection of humanities and technology
Alex Mentzel has lived many careers and he’s still only in the first part of his life. Brought up in a musical family, he worked as an actor in film, tv and musical theatre, co-founded an app that aims to provide accurate and potentially life-saving information to people living in conflict zones and is now […]
