 In Green's lab she studied the mechanisms underlying growth and differentiation in epidermal keratinocytes.Fuchs accepted a faculty position at the University of Chicago in 1980 and was the first woman in the biochemistry department.Her first publications there reported the first cloning and sequencing of keratin cDNAs that characterized the two types of keratins., At the University of Chicago she was mentored and befriended by Janet Rowley and Susan Lindquist; they eventually all joined the reorganized Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, in which Fuchs was ultimately appointed the Amgen Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology.