Owen Lewer '20 wins Best Poster Award at the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Conference

Carthage biology major, Owen Lewer '20 recently took home the award for best poster at the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Conference. The poster outlines the undergraduate research project titled "Space Phage: Expanding an Undergraduate Course-based Research Experience" Owen is conducting this research with faculty advisors Dr. Deborah Tobiason and Dr. Andrea Henle, along with research team members from the University of Wisconsin River Falls.

Their research centers around phages, viruses that infect bacteria, and their life cycles in space-like environments. So far, they have been doing controlled experiments in a lab setting and experiments in a simulated microgravity setting. They plan to send phages out to the International Space Station for 30 days where the phages will be monitored in a true space setting. The team will monitor how stable the phages are in space in order to determine if they could be used on future space missions to control bacterial numbers.

The award comes with a prize of a $1,000 travel stipend, which Owen will use to present their research at other conferences.