Before beginning her fellowship at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Friederike Benning took an unconventional route to work. Starting in Seattle, Washington, she biked over 2,000 to Kansas City to kick off her time as a Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow.
“Going by a bike is a really great pace, because you can really do distances within a day, it's a nice enough slow pace that you can take it all in and you're exposed to everything,” Benning told KCUR’s Up to Date. “You're exposed to what people that live there are exposed to, just for a temporary time. And I think that, in hindsight, was the best part.”
Though Benning planned her stops and routes ahead of time, she still faced unexpected obstacles. With days of strong headwinds, flat tires, and unexpected landscapes, Benning said she learned how to adapt and saw how the world around her mirrored the order of a cell.
At one point, struggling to bike through sand, Benning discovered a hidden mountain range that reminded her of scientific discovery: difficult at times, but ultimately rewarding.
Now at the Stower’s Institute as a molecular biologist, biochemist, and structural biologist, Benning studies the internal membranes of bacteria.
- Friederike Benning, Ph.D., Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
