Dr. Rao works in the area of translational research and application of Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH) technology in clinical diagnosis. His research interests are: to identify the recurring chromosomal abnormalities in human tumors; to correlate specific chromosomal abnormalities with morphological and clinical features of the neoplastic disease, such as response to therapy and survival; to localize genes to human chromosomes by using the technique of in situ chromosomal hybridization, and to examine the location of specific genes relative to the breakpoints of recurring abnormalities in hematopoetic neoplastic diseases; application of CGH technique in various solid tumors; and development and application of molecular cytogenetics for laboratory testing.