Friederike Benning

Profile

Friederike Benning, Ph.D., is a molecular biologist, biochemist, and structural biologist who will join the Stowers Institute in Fall 2025 as the newest Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow. Her research investigates the diversity and evolution of bacterial membrane structures—focusing on how specialized folds enable bacteria to adapt to extreme environments and how these insights might one day be used to build synthetic cellular systems.Benning joins the Institute from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. Her work will focus 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.Benning seeks to understand how proteins sculpt these membranes into diverse shapes, and how those forms evolved to meet different energy demands. Her approach combines protein biochemistry, evolutionary biology, and advanced imaging techniques to visualize molecular machines in action.