John Rinn, PhD is a passionate and driven scientist with a proven track record of groundbreaking research and innovation. With 25 years of experience, in genetics genomics and epigenetics, he specializes in unraveling the complexities of how long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) genes regulate the human genome. John Rinn thrives in interdisciplinary collaborative environments that bring together the computational and experimental sciences. John Rinn is driven to harness the potential of RNA to improve human health. This lead to being a co-founder of lincSWITCH (lincSWITCH.com) with Dr. Marvin Caruthers (Director) and Andrew Sandford (CEO).John Rinn previously served as a professor at Harvard University (hsci.harvard.edu/people/john-rinn-phd) and the Broad Institute. There the research from the Rinn lab identified dozens of lncRNA genes that play key roles in diverse cellular functions, fertility, development, and viability. The Rinn lab consistently innovates novel technologies and computational solutions aimed to open new frontiers in lncRNA biology. After receiving tenure at Harvard University, John Rinn realized that the future of lncRNA applications required putting a genomic twist on classic biochemical approaches. Thus, in 2017 the Rinn lab moved to be part of the venerated RNA-biochemistry community at the University of Colorado, Boulder BioFrontiers institute (www.colorado.edu/biofrontiers/john-rinn).Dr. Rinn also has over 15 years of experience teaching undergraduates at Harvard and CU Boulder. Over this time he has developed a teaching philosophy and approach that values real world applications of education. This has culminated in a “multi-sensory” teaching method (lncrna.io/teaching) that led students to make new discoveries in computational genomics and even publish a primary scientific paper with his class. Moreover, Dr. Rinn has mentored numerous postdoctoral scholars and graduate students – most of which have gone on to start their own independent research programs. The Rinn lab is dedicated to diversity supporting a large number of trainees who are women and/or come from otherwise underrepresented backgrounds. The Rinn lab mission statement is “diversity drives evolution and thus our science”.John Rinn made a free class on youtube for anyone to learn bioinformatics:https://www.youtube.com/@rinnformatics5606/addons/unicode-categoriesOutside his research and teaching Dr. Rinn enjoys outdoor pursuits such as road cycling, hockey, snowboarding, and cliff jumping (now retired – well mostly).