Michael Greenberg grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Wesleyan University (magna cum laude) in 1976 with a degree in chemistry.
During his time in Ziff's lab, Greenberg observed that the transcription of c-fos, a cellular proto-oncogene, is induced within minutes of activation by neurotrophic factors, one of the first mechanistic descriptions of how cells respond to external signals.
The identification of c-fos, and other activity-dependent genes, provided a molecular mechanism that explained how experience (i.e. nurture) can be coupled with a cellular process (i.e. nature).
In 1986, Greenberg moved to Boston, Massachusetts to start his lab in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School.
[9] The activity-dependent gene expression program discovered by Greenberg has been shown to play an important biological role in nervous system development and function, specifically in the formation of inhibitory circuits in the brain.
Thus, the activity-dependent gene program plays a key role specifically in the development of inhibitory circuits in the cortex, which are responsible for fine-tuning neuronal output and nervous system function.
[15][16] He has mentored a number of successful neuroscientists, including Morgan Sheng, David Ginty, Azad Bonni, Anne Brunet, Ricardo Dolmetsch, Anirvan Ghosh, and Hilmar Bading.