As a biochemistry major, senior Daniel Georgie plans to attend medical school and become a physician. Until then, he’s gaining valuable research experience and contributing to advances in the study of Alzheimer’s disease while working alongside Assistant Professor David Moffet and a team of student researchers at LMU.

“The cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown, but the vast majority of researchers believe that it is best characterized by an abnormal accumulation of a particular protein in the brain,” Georgie explains. “The goal of the Moffet research lab is to find various compounds that can potentially inhibit this abnormal accumulation from occurring.”

Scientists agree that a brain protein known as amyloid-beta 42, or AB42, appears to be the central player in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Moffet and his team have discovered a way to successfully attack AB42 using a small protein they named peptide 2. In test-tube experiments, students tested thousands of substances to ultimately find peptide 2. The students went on to show that peptide 2 dissolves AB42 aggregates. “No one has ever done this before; the students tested thousands of small proteins to get these results,” Moffet says.

Georgie says the team's research over the past year has been tremendously successful and was even published in the Journal of Peptide Science.

Aside from being a full-time research assistant during the summer, Georgie, a theology minor, is a teaching assistant in the departments of chemistry and physics. He is a member of the Chemistry Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Pre-Health Honors Society. He is co-president of the Coptic Club at LMU and serves as a worship leader at four local churches.

In the future, Georgie would like to establish a children’s clinic with specialists in neonatology, pediatrics, dermatology and optometry.

Born and raised locally in Long Beach, Calif., Georgie first became familiar with Jesuit curriculum and tradition as a student at Loyola High School in Los Angeles and says he now feels “incredibly fortunate” to be a member of the LMU community.

“The faculty have made all the difference in my learning and in my appreciation for the diversity of the LMU curriculum,” Georgie says. “ Each professor from whom I have sought advice and guidance has genuinely cared for my needs and my future, and I attribute the overcoming of my challenges to their motivational words and support.”