An eminent microbiologist and geneticist, Rachel Green investigates the role of ribosomes in translating the genetic information found in all cells. This work is of critical importance for understanding the natural world and for discovering the ribosome’s medical relevance.

Green’s research on ribosome structure and function in bacterial, yeast, and human cells has revealed fundamental mechanisms of protein synthesis. Recently, she has focused on quality control steps imposed on the translational process in eukaryotes: Green and her group use biochemistry, genetic approaches, and ribosome profiling to understand the molecular mechanisms behind how a cell responds when protein synthesis goes awry. These studies will ultimately provide insights into a wide range of human disorders that disrupt ribosome function or the cellular responses to ribosome dysfunction. For example, her work on ribosome rescue and homeostasis sheds light on certain blood disorders and genetic diseases that include premature “stop” signals in the coding information.

Green was appointed as an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in 1998 and was named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2017.