I am a rising sophomore majoring in chemistry with a certificate in neuroscience and a minor in biology. I am interested in biophysical chemistry, especially that of proteins in the brain. I have been working in Dr. Simon's lab in the chemistry department since January, 2007 studying copper binding to the amyloid beta peptide, which is associated with Alzheimer's Disease. I have also been getting my feet wet in protein crystallography, trying to grow crystals of the amyloid beta-40 peptide as it is bound to copper for structure/conformation elucidation.