Daman Kumari, PhD, is a senior associate scientist in the Gene Structure and Disease Section of the Laboratory of Cell & Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. She has been studying the regulation of FMR1 gene expression since 1998 and has made several important contributions to the understanding of FMR1 gene silencing in Fragile X syndrome. Dr. Kumari’s research goal is to understand the mechanism of repeat-mediated gene silencing in repeat expansion diseases and to develop and evaluate strategies to normalize transcription of the affected gene.