Ann Hochschild is the Maude Lillian Presley Professor at Harvard Medical School, where she focuses on the study of fundamental mechanisms of transcription regulation and the biology of prions. Her laboratory emphasizes the development of genetic tools and employs biochemical, structural, and microscopy-based approaches to study RNA polymerases and their complex regulatory mechanisms. Hochschild's work uses the relative simplicity of prokaryotic transcription machinery to understand molecular interactions crucial for regulation. She has developed a variety of broadly applicable genetic assays for studying protein-protein interactions, including widely used transcription-based bacterial two-hybrid assays. Her current research particularly explores the regulatory mechanisms during post-initiation stages of the transcription cycle and investigates prions as infectious protein aggregates that cause neurodegenerative diseases. Hochschild aims to uncover the role of prions in bacterial epigenetic diversity, demonstrating the capacity for prion-like phenomena in bacteria, which represents a previously unrecognized source of genetic diversity.