Goody has combined chemistry, structural biology and kinetics to make major contributions in several fields of biology. He pioneered the use of nucleotide analogs, synthesized at the beginning of his career, in muscle research and later for Ras-family GTPases, leading to the first ever structure determination of an unstable protein-substrate complex (Ras:GTP). Innovative use of semi-synthetic proteins led to an understanding of transport mechanisms of Rab GTPases and to resolution of a longstanding controversy concerning targeting of these proteins to membranes. His group discovered and characterized hitherto unrecognized covalent modifications of Rab proteins by bacteria.
Honours, awards and memberships
From 2013 to 2015, Goody was President of the German Society for Biochemistry and molecular Biology (GBM).[5] In 2018 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
President of the German Society of Biochemistry and molecular Biology
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (since 2003)[6]
Chairman of the Study Section for Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German National Research Organization) - 2000-2009