News
23 October 2024
The Stowers Institute launches a new AI Initiative to power biological research
Stowers Investigator Julia Zeitlinger, Ph.D., selected to head this effort
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Stowers Institute Fellows
The 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.
Stowers Fellows Program
Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellows are laboratory-based investigators who lead independent, discovery-driven research programs, building teams and leveraging our cutting-edge facilities to push the frontiers of fundamental biology.
The AI Fellow is a computational leader focused on developing and deploying advanced data science, machine learning, and AI methods that accelerate discovery across the Institute. The AI fellow partners closely with research labs to create institute-wide tools, pipelines, and insights.
Together, Stowers Fellows combine experimental and computational excellence to catalyze potential for impactful discovery.
Meet our Fellows and learn about their research programs
Friederike Benning, Ph.D.
Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow
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.
Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow
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.
Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow
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.
Sumner Magruder, Ph.D.
AI Fellow
Sumner Magruder, Ph.D., is the Institute’s first AI Fellow, embedding explainable machine learning into biological discovery. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Yale Universiaty and a Ph.D. in Biology from Universität Hamburg. Sumner develops open-source tools, scalable pipelines, and models for single-cell data, neural modeling, and biomedicine. As part of the Institute’s AI Initiative, he drives collaborative, data-informed science across the Institute.
Innovative ideas and modern technology to benefit biological research
The Fellows program at the Stowers Institute was launched in 2024. 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, joined as inaugural fellows with creative ideas for tackling biological questions from basic molecules to some of nature’s strangest creatures.
Learn more about the launch of the programExplore the Institute
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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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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