The Padma Shri recipient is survived by his mother, wife and two sons. Born in January 1948 in Mysuru, Prof Rao graduated and completed his PG from Bangalore University before getting his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where he later served as chairman, the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Department of Biochemistry.
Rao, whose area of expertise was in biochemistry and molecular biology, did his postdoctoral research at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, US.
He served as JNCASR president for a decade between 2003 and 2013. He was also associated with the Chromatin Biology Lab at the institute. He was a member on several panels of the ICMR and CSIR.
During his long professional career he served as assistant professor in Baylor College of Medicine. He was also a visiting Professor at the Harvard Medical School, and visiting Scientist at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California at San Diego, USA.
He was also member, Karnataka Knowledge Commission between 2014-2017. Prof Rao received various awards and honours aside from Padma Shri. his cremation is scheduled for Tuesday.