Geraldine Seydoux is a geneticist recognized for her work on the biology of germ cells. She is best known for her finding that global inhibition of mRNA synthesis is an essential first step in the establishment of the germline. Seydoux was born in Paris, France and grew up in Europe before emigrating to the United States of America at 18. She graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Biochemistry and from Princeton University with a Ph. D. in Molecular Biology. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington before joining the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1995. In 1999, she was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Institutes of Health, and in 2001 she received a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Seydoux is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.