Her research concerns gene expression in chloroplasts and mitochondria, photosynthesis, and the molecular basis of the disease Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).

With Ellora Young, she identified a mutant chimeric mitochondrial gene that encodes a toxic protein that results in abortion of pollen development.

As a result, Rainer Köhler in her group rediscovered plastid protrusions,[6] which had been observed as long ago as 1908, but not previously established as a genuine feature of plant cell biology.

[10][11] Among these are the identification of several of the protein families whose members form the diverse set of editosomes, RNA/protein complexes that carry out editing in plant organelles.

Her group has increased the understanding of the disruptions at the molecular level that occur in this disease, which was long erroneously claimed to be a psychological illness.