Rajan Thakur is a research associate in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. He received his B.Sc in microbiology from Pune University and his Ph.D in cell and developmental biology from the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India. During his doctoral studies with Raghu Padinjat, Thakur made significant contributions to understanding the role of lipids in photoreceptor function through in vivo studies in Drosophila, identifying a light-dependent lipid signaling process critical for maintaining photoreceptor sensitivity.

Building on this foundation, Thakur’s postdoctoral work with Kate O’Connor-Giles has focused on the roles of lipid transfer proteins in neurodevelopment and how their disruption may contribute to neurological disorders. His research integrates CRISPR-based genetic models, functional analyses of neuronal development, function and behavior; in vivo cell biological approaches, and proteomics and genomics to uncover fundamental mechanisms in lipid signaling in the nervous system. Thakur’s long-term research aim is to define how lipids and lipid-dependent inter-organelle communication regulate nervous system development and function, by directly investigating lipid signaling genes implicated in autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders.