An Award for a LeTourneau University Student

LONGVIEW – LeTourneau University freshman biology major Nicholas Leonard of Kilgore, Texas, was awarded the 2nd place Orville Wyse Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement. The award is for his research and presentation recently at the American Society for Microbiology Texas Branch Conference in New Braunfels, Texas. Leonard is the first LETU student to receive an award at this highly competitive conference.

Leonard’s research investigated the synteny, or sequence and arrangement, of the genomes of viruses that infect and kill bacteria. He focused in closely on the variability within genes which are involved in the viruses’ abilities to infect various host bacteria.