BioMed Academy student, Adam Chawdhury, has placed fourth in the national Genes in Space competition. Chawdhury, a freshman at R. L. Turner High School, was one of 1,200 students from across the country to enter the contest. Genes in Space began in 2015 as a collaboration between Boeing and miniPCR, with the goal of inspiring young minds to solve real-world problems in the biological and physical sciences. The task set before competitors is to design a DNA research proposal in space biology. Winners are able to send their DNA experiment to the International Space Station and are listed as Principal Investigator in NASA documents. Finalists receive a mentorship from Harvard and MIT scientists and win a miniPCR DNA Discovery System for their school. Chawdhury’s life-long dream of working for NASA fueled his interest in the project. For his submission, Chawdhury designed a proposal to determine if the physical and mental stressors of space could impact the reactivation of a latent Zoster virus.