Bennati returned to
Germany in 2002, where she was made a lecturer at the
Goethe University Frankfurt and awarded the International EPR Society Young Investigator award. She moved to the
University of Göttingen in 2007, where she started a research group in
electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. In particular, Bennati demonstrated that EPR can be used to study biomolecular structures such as
ribonucleotide reductase. She has used
electron nuclear double resonance to establish the orientation and distance of nuclear spins with respect to a paramagnetic centre. In biological processes, paramagnetic centres exist as metal ions or clusters. She has shown that pulsed EPR is sensitive to the interactions between unpaired electron spins. In 2012, Bennati was made Chair of the
German Research Foundation program "New Frontiers in Sensitivity for EPR Spectroscopy: from Biological Cells to Nano Materials". The program looked to increase the sensitivity of
electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, offering hope for the characterization of light degradation in
photovoltaics and
in vivo protein-protein interactions. To achieve this enhancement in sensitivity, Bennati worked on both the excitation and detection devices. She was awarded a
European Research Council Advanced Grant in 2021. She was awarded the international EPR societies silver medal for her fundamental contributions to advance the physics of electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and liquid-state dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) spectroscopy at high magnetic fields, and their application for the study of paramagnetic molecular systems. == Selected publications ==