Her research focuses on the origins of autoimmune diseases, particularly systemic lupus erythematosis, studied using mice as model organisms.[1] Previously she had been a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is notable for her role in what became known as the "Baltimore affair", in which a 1986 paper she co-authored with David Baltimore was the subject of research misconduct allegations. Following a series of investigations, she was fully exonerated of the charges in 1996.