Luke Kontogiannis, who recently graduated from Dundee University with a first-class degree in molecular genetics, has been named best biology student in the United Kingdom in the Millennium Science Engineering and Technology awards.
David Lilley, whose molecular biology laboratory has an international reputation for its research into the structure and function of DNA, praised Mr Kontogiannis's "wonderfully mature grasp of science".
But it will be a while before Mr Kontogiannis moves into the research field himself: he is spending the next two years doing military service in the Greek navy.