Karissa Sanbonmatsu is a prominent American Structural Biologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where she leads a research group focussed on the intersection of RNA biology and Epigenetics. Her work is particularly notable for its scale and its exploration of how life emerges from matter. Apart from these, Sanbonmatsu is a well known advocate for the LGBTIQ community. In her TED Talk, ' The Biology of gender from DNA to the Brain', she discusses her own journey as a transgender woman and how epigenetics provide insights into the biological basis of gender identity.