Rajan Sankaranarayanan is an Indian structural biologist and a group leader at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad.

Sankaranarayanan's group is interested in understanding unique proofreading mechanisms that are operational in biological systems to maintain quality control during the translation of the genetic code.

[8] Furthermore, the group has also went on to show how these two chiral proofreaders are involved in the optimization of cellular networks during the emergence and evolution of organelles in two major branches of eukaryotes, i.e., opisthokonta and plants.

The group has identified the mechanistic underpinnings of FAAL’s incredible specificity towards its substrate, acyl carrier protein and rejecting CoA, despite being chemically identical.

[11] Recently, the group has also identified the role of a FAAL-like homolog in eukaryotes called Disco-interacting protein 2 (DIP2), in regulating a specific pool of diacylglycerols by converting it into triacylglycerols, thereby maintaining cellular homeostasis.