The international Biophysical Society has awarded Cornell undergraduate Moataz Gadalla '07 a Minority Travel Award to attend the society's 51st annual meeting, March 3-7, in Baltimore.

A chemical and biomolecular engineering major, Gadalla is one of eight recipients of the award, which is intended to encourage participation at the meeting. All recipients will be honored at a March 3 reception.

The society chose Gadalla, who is a Hughes Scholar working in the laboratory of George Hess, Cornell professor of biochemistry, based on his co-authored abstract, "Discovery of a Cocaine-binding Site on Beta-amyloid Peptides Which Play an Important Role in Alzheimer's Disease."

The abstract is based on work the authors intend to submit for publication. It details their discovery of small molecule inhibitors for the aggregation of the beta-amyloid peptide -- thought to be key for Alzheimer's disease therapeutics.

Of Egyptian descent, Gadalla was born and raised in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. He is now a U.S. resident.