News
11 April 2025
Road to Research: Q&A with Alex Garruss, Ph.D., Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow
“There are few rewards as powerful and as elevating as making a clear, robust scientific observation that advances the field.”
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Our Fellows
Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellows
Meet our Fellows and learn about their research programs
The Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellows program at the Stowers Institute seeks to advance scientific knowledge by funding early-career investigators who have distinguished themselves with novel and bold ideas to understand fundamental biological processes. Fellows are given a five-year term to pursue their own ideas independently.
Friederike Benning, Ph.D.
Benning's work centers on a group of ancient bacteria called Alphaproteobacteria, which are thought to be the evolutionary ancestors of mitochondria—the energy-producing organelles in human cells. These bacteria survive in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, including volcanic vents and oceanic sediments, thanks to their specialized internal membranes.
Alex Garruss, Ph.D.
Garruss is leveraging his knowledge and skills toward developing cutting-edge methodology for adapting artificial intelligence (AI) methods to approach central concepts governing RNA—a type of molecule integral for life for which many basic properties remain largely mysterious—from a fundamentally different angle.
Nelson Hall, Ph.D.
Hall is working to accomplish two main goals during his time as a Fellow. His first goal is to streamline the genetic tools for manipulating M. lignano while his second goal is broader. Hall wants to expand and optimize gene editing tools that can be more universally applied to a wide variety of unstudied organisms.
Innovative ideas and modern technology to benefit biological research
Alex Garruss, Ph.D., a Harvard alumnus, former Stowers bioinformatician, and scientific leader in biotechnology, and Nelson Hall, Ph.D., a scientist recruited from Stanford University, have creative ideas for tackling biological questions from basic molecules to some of nature’s strangest creatures.
Read more about their researchExplore the Institute
News
18 September 2024
Stowers Institute welcomes inaugural Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellows
Alex Garruss, Ph.D., and Nelson Hall, Ph.D., join the Institute with a unifying motivation to explore foundational biology, from RNA to flatworms.
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News
16 May 2025
#BioBasics: What is a ribosome?
Learn the biological basics of ribosomes—the molecular machines that build life-sustaining proteins—and why Stowers scientists are studying them.
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Press Release
15 May 2025
Stowers Institute appoints new Investigator and Fellow to explore protein evolution and the origins of cellular complexity
Arvind Pillai, Ph.D., from the University of Washington, and Friederike Benning, Ph.D., from Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital, will join the Institute in Fall 2025
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