2026 Ronald R. Breaker: Molecular Biology Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Chemistry	102	1150	1017	457	371	224	41579
Genetics	117	427	411	224	214	265	49321
Molecular Biology	117	289	265	173	157	265	49321

Ronald R. Breaker publication distribution in Molecular Biology in 2026

The chart shows the distribution of publications by all Research.com ranked scientists in the field of Molecular Biology in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Ronald R. Breaker sits on this spectrum.

47 publications 564+

This scientist: 265 publications — 75th percentile

75% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 564 publications or more.

Ronald R. Breaker D-index placement in Molecular Biology in 2026

The chart shows the D-index (discipline H-index) distribution of Molecular Biology scientists ranked by Research.com in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Ronald R. Breaker sits on this spectrum.

40 D-Index 145+

This scientist: 117 D-Index — 91st percentile

91% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 145 D-Index or more.

Research.com Recognitions

2013 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
2004 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1998 - Hellman Fellow

Overview

Ronald R. Breaker is affiliated with Yale University in the United States. Their primary field of research lies within Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology, with a focus on Molecular Biology and Genetics as key subfields. The work contributed by this scientist spans a range of advanced topics in molecular and genetic research.

The main topics of their research include:

RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
RNA modifications and cancer
Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques

Their contributions have been published extensively in several scientific venues, with frequent appearances in:

RNA
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Biochemistry
RNA Biology

Among recent significant publications are:

"Discovering riboswitches: the past and the future," 2022, Trends in Biochemical Sciences
"The Biochemical Landscape of Riboswitch Ligands," 2022, Biochemistry
"Riboswitches," 2023, Current Biology
"Biochemical Validation of a Fourth Guanidine Riboswitch Class in Bacteria," 2020, Biochemistry
"Exploiting natural riboswitches for aptamer engineering and validation," 2023, Nucleic Acids Research

Frequent research collaborators include Kumari Kavita, Adam Roth, Michael G. Mohsen, Aparaajita Balaji, and Diane Yu. These coauthors have contributed jointly to several studies, reflecting a collaborative research environment in related scientific topics.

Awards received by Ronald R. Breaker include:

Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2004
Hellman Fellow, 1998

Best Publications

A DNA enzyme that cleaves RNA

Ronald R. Breaker;Gerald F. Joyce

1819
Citations
Thiamine derivatives bind messenger RNAs directly to regulate bacterial gene expression

Wade Winkler;Ali Nahvi;Ronald R. Breaker

1594
Citations
Control of gene expression by a natural metabolite-responsive ribozyme.

Wade C. Winkler;Ali Nahvi;Adam Roth;Jennifer A. Collins

1189
Citations
Gene regulation by riboswitches.

Maumita Mandal;Ronald R. Breaker

1177
Citations
Genetic Control by a Metabolite Binding mRNA

Ali Nahvi;Narasimhan Sudarsan;Margaret S Ebert;Xiang Zou

999
Citations
Importance of the Debye screening length on nanowire field effect transistor sensors.

Eric Stern;Robin Wagner;Fred J. Sigworth;Ronald Breaker

954
Citations
Riboswitches control fundamental biochemical pathways in Bacillus subtilis and other bacteria

Maumita Mandal;Benjamin Boese;Jeffrey E Barrick;Wade C Winkler

924
Citations
REGULATION OF BACTERIAL GENE EXPRESSION BY RIBOSWITCHES

Wade C. Winkler;Ronald R. Breaker

921
Citations
Riboswitches in Eubacteria Sense the Second Messenger Cyclic Di-GMP

N. Sudarsan;E. R. Lee;Z. Weinberg;R. H. Moy

877
Citations
An mRNA structure that controls gene expression by binding FMN

Wade C. Winkler;Smadar Cohen-Chalamish;Ronald R. Breaker

852
Citations
Riboswitches and the RNA World

Ronald R. Breaker

793
Citations
Riboswitches as versatile gene control elements.

Brian J Tucker;Ronald R Breaker

692
Citations
Kinetics of RNA Degradation by Specific Base Catalysis of Transesterification Involving the 2‘-Hydroxyl Group

Yingfu Li;Ronald R. Breaker

684
Citations
Structural Basis for Discriminative Regulation of Gene Expression by Adenine- and Guanine-Sensing mRNAs

Alexander Serganov;Yu Ren Yuan;Olga Pikovskaya;Anna Polonskaia

678
Citations
Relationship between internucleotide linkage geometry and the stability of RNA

Garrett A. Soukup;Ronald R. Breaker

673
Citations
A glycine-dependent riboswitch that uses cooperative binding to control gene expression.

Maumita Mandal;Mark Lee;Jeffrey E. Barrick;Zasha Weinberg

668
Citations
Prospects for Riboswitch Discovery and Analysis

Ronald R. Breaker

666
Citations
The structural and functional diversity of metabolite-binding riboswitches.

Adam Roth;Ronald R. Breaker

653
Citations
A DNA enzyme with Mg(2+)-dependent RNA phosphoesterase activity.

Ronald R. Breaker;Gerald F. Joyce

646
Citations
Adenine riboswitches and gene activation by disruption of a transcription terminator.

Maumita Mandal;Ronald R Breaker

639
Citations
Gene Regulation by Riboswitches

Ronald Ray Breaker

1
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Jeffrey E. Barrick The University of Texas at Austin

Gerald F. Joyce Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Walter L. Ruzzo University of Washington

Yingfu Li McMaster University

Zizhen Yao Allen Institute for Brain Science

Scott A. Strobel Yale University

Robert T. Batey University of Colorado Boulder

Dinshaw J. Patel Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Stephen J. Giovannoni Oregon State University

Dmitry A. Rodionov Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

External Links

Wikipedia of Ronald R. Breaker Personal website of Ronald R. Breaker

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