POTSDAM -- Junior Martin W. LaFleur, a biomolecular science major from Potsdam has been awarded a Goldwater Scholarship.

The Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious award in the United States given to undergraduates studying the sciences. Only 282 scholarships were awarded for the 2012-2013 academic year.

A graduate of Potsdam High School and the Clarkson School, LaFleur intends to pursue a doctoral degree in cancer biology at the Gerstner

Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. His focus will be on activating the immune system to detect and destroy cancerous cells within the body. LaFleur aspires to someday run his own lab working on a cure for cancer.

Last summer, LaFleur participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Sloan-Kettering investigating the mechanisms by which the tumor suppressor TRIM3 is regulated, under the direction of Professor Andrew Koff. He performs research throughout the year and is currently working in Clarkson Professor Richard Partch's lab on the development of a chemotherapeutic-functionalized gold nanoparticle to help avoid the drug resistance that is commonly acquired after treatment with targeted cancer therapies.

LaFleur is a presidential scholar and recently joined the Clarkson Honors Program in order to write a formal thesis on his work with Partch.