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When John Rinn was an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, his focus was on skateboarding and snowboarding. However, a Chemistry 101 course sparked an interest in science where Rinn noticed that powerful chemical reactions could be broken down into simple steps just like a skateboard or snowboard trick. Rinn discovered a passion for RNA following a summer research fellowship centered on engineering transfer RNA for new properties. Following the experience, Rinn pursued graduate school to train as an RNA structural biologist.

“John is an outstanding choice for the first recipient of the Marvin H. Caruthers Endowed Chair for Early-Career Faculty,” says Nobel laureate and Director of BioFrontiers Institute Tom Cech. “His discoveries in RNA biology and bioinformatics are known worldwide, and he's a charismatic leader as well.”

Before joining the Institute, Rinn served as Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute. Rinn received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in Chemistry.

Concurrent with his BioFrontiers Institute appointment as the Leslie Orgel Professor of RNA Science, Rinn has been named Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado, �鶹ӰԺ. "John is an unusually innovative and energetic scientist with a multidisciplinary approach to study RNA biology in the context of human disease. We are very excited to have John join our department and the BioFrontiers Institute,” says Marcelo Sousa, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

BioFrontiers offers Rinn a unique opportunity to build a seamless bridge between computational and experimental biology to explore and discover new functional elements in the noncoding genome.

“�鶹ӰԺ is a mecca for RNA biology, and BioFrontiers is simply the best place on earth to blend genomic-scale studies with classic RNA biochemistry to understand noncoding RNA from ‘soup to nuts,'” says Rinn.

“It is an amazing group of people with endless possibility for collaboration, which has driven our science from the start. BioFrontiers is the perfect environment to continue to evolve our research program and collaborative network.”

A pioneer of RNA biology, Rinn focuses on uncovering the functional elements with real biological significance hiding in long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes, strings of nucleotides that were once considered to be “junk DNA.” “We have discovered some very interesting new long noncoding RNA genes, but we don’t know how they work on a mechanistic level. By collaborating with faculty members Roy Parker, Rob Batey, Robin Dowell, Deborah Wuttke and Tom Cech, as well as many others, we can tackle how these mysterious genes work and identify new approaches to fix them when they go awry in disease,” says Rinn. “I am equally excited to collaborate with the faculty pioneering single-molecule and single-cell microscopy techniques. I see our research program not only accomplishing long-term goals of RNA biology but expanding in entirely new directions, too!”

When asked what he would do as soon as he arrives, Rinn responded, “paint the walls of my office with whiteboard paint then immerse myself into the scientific bliss of BioFrontiers.” As a nod to the spirit of his new hometown, he added, “Oh, and then maybe I’ll go for a run by the creek.”

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The newly constructed structure in the National Botanical Gardens in Ireland, meant to symbolize the flow of information from DNA to RNA and proteins, contains a representation of the DNA double helix, a ribosome, and thehammerhead ribozyme. Sculptures of the DNA helix have been constructed ; indeed, wandering through Trinity College Dublin a few miles from the gardens I found a  that had been unveiled by James Watson in 2003. Though much rarer, there's at least one previous sculpture of a ribosome, located at  I can say after some searching, however, that I believe the Ireland National Botanical Gardens contains the first example of a sculpture of catalytic RNA. Ribozymes, hugely important to our understanding of the place of RNA in the universe, had been discovered by Nobel Laureate, BioFrontiers Institute Director, and IQ Biology Foundations class instructor  in 1981, but this appears to be its first manifestation in sculpted form.

My opportunity to attend the unveiling of the scultpure was mostly the result of luck. The sculptor, , requested a 3D model of the hammerhead ribozyme on which to base his sculpture, and molecular biologist John Atkins, who organized the event asked Tom Cech if he could provide one. Dr. Cech decided it would be a good opportunity for our Foundations class to show off our artistic talents as well as our understanding of RNA structure, a major subject of the course. We divided outselves into teams and competed to see which of us could produce the most accurate representation, with the reward being a trip to Ireland. Building an accurate 3D model from the computer representation in Pymol (a program for molecule visualization) requires spatial skills that I, leaning more towards the theoretical side of biology, do not have. Fortunately, my teammate Zachary Dunlap was much more skilled than myself in this regard, and due to his talent and effort, our final model was deemed the most accurate. Zach and I were invited to attend the unveiling of the statue.

James Watson, who (as you probably know) was one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA, spoke at the unveiling. A major theme of his speech, and the sculpture itself, was the complexity of RNA. Watson said one line which I've thought about quite a bit in the time since (I didn't immediately recognize its significance, so this is my paraphrase): DNA is as much as most people can understand. Understanding RNA makes someone a scientist.

The public has some understanding and appreciation of DNA, but comprehending RNA, and what it does and means, is much harder, in part due to its many biological roles. That's why there are many sculptures of the DNA double helix in the world, but so few of RNA, and why the exhibition in the Botanical Gardens is novel and interesting. This sculpture, , includes RNA as well as DNA so as to educate on the many new discoveries involving RNA in the last 30 years. The discovery of ribozymes established that RNA was more than its role in the Central Dogma as passive messenger, transmitting genetic information from DNA to be translated into proteins, the catalytic units of the cell. Rather, RNA is itself an active player: the hammerhead ribozyme can cleave RNA without protein enzymes. Since the discovery of catalytic RNA, we have learned more and more about how RNA is involved in a multitude of functions: information, structure, regulation, catalysis. The multifaceted nature of the molecule is emphasized in the sculpture. Three forms of RNA are placed on top of the ribozyme, over the words: The First Multitasker. It is an appropriate term.

The structure of DNA is aesthetically pleasing, and its discovery a great accomplishment. But I think it was the right decision to put an example of catalytic RNA as the focus of the exhibit, the first structure a person will see walking down the path towards the sculpture. The discovery of Watson and Crick represented the accomplishment of a great scientific goal that had been established as soon as it was understood that DNA was the genetic material. But Cech's discovery is an example of something that, to me, is an even more exciting appeal of science: the potential for an unexpected result to overturn previous knowledge, to add complexity to our old understanding of life and open the path to whole new areas of research, previously unimagined.

Aaron Wacholder is beginning his second year in the I. He is pursuing a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

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