Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue comprises extended versions of selected papers and presentations from the IEEE BIBM 2021 Workshop on Long Non-Coding RNAs: Mechanism, Function, and Computational Analysis (BIBM-LncRNA), held on 9–12 December 2021, (https://community.wvu.edu/~daadjeroh/workshops/LNCRNA2021/). The LncRNA workshop was held in a mixed mode: both virtual/remote and face-to-face in Dubai, UAE.

Recent applications of high-throughput technologies in transcriptomics have changed our view of gene regulation and function. The discovery of the extensive transcription of large RNA transcripts, termed long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), has provided an important and novel perspective on the centrality of RNAs in gene regulation. LncRNAs are involved in various biological and cellular processes, such as genetic imprinting, chromatin remodeling, gene regulation and embryonic development. LncRNAs have been implicated in several chronic diseases, such as cancers, heart disease, etc. Given the abundance of lncRNAs, tens of thousands still need to be functionally characterized. Various types of genomic data on lncRNAs are currently available, including sequences, secondary/tertiary structures, transcriptome data, and their interactions with related proteins or genes. A key challenge is how to integrate data from a myriad of sources to determine the functions and regulatory mechanism of these ubiquitous lncRNAs. Computational studies of lncRNA secondary, tertiary structure, and lncRNA interactions with other molecules are in their infancy, and more work is still needed.

Authors of selected papers and invited presentations at the workshop were invited to submit extended versions of their work, including comprehensive review papers and research articles with unpublished, original research describing recent advances on topics related to this workshop, including, but not limited to:

• lncRNA detection and biomarker discovery;
• CLIP-Seq and RIP-Seq data analysis;
• Prediction of physical binding between lncRNAs and DNAs and RNAs and protein;
• Competition and interactions between lncRNA, miRNA, and mRNA;
• Studying methylation regulating lncRNA functions;
• Function prediction for lncRNAs;
• Deep learning approaches to lncRNA/RNA binding protein prediction;
• Computational approaches to analyzing lncRNAs;
• lncRNA 3D secondary structures;
• lncRNA–protein interactions;
• lncRNA in epigenetic regulation;
• lncRNA-associated disease network;
• lncRNAs in plant genomics;
• lncRNAs in phenotype–genotype problems;
• lncRNAs and single-cell transcriptomics;
• lncRNAs and spatial transcriptomics;
• CRISPR/Cas9 and genome editing in lncRNAs.

Selected papers and presentations that have attracted the most interest on the web or that provide a particularly innovative contribution were gathered for publication. These papers were subjected to a peer review and have been published with the aim of attaining a rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications. In addition, authors could submit their extended papers to this Special Issue after the workshop, so there was no need to wait for the submission deadline. All papers accepted for publication will be immediately published.

Prof. Dr. Donald Adjeroh
Prof. Dr. Xiaobo Zhou
Dr. Ivan Martinez
Prof. Dr. Leonard Lipovich
Dr. Tatiana Shkurat
Dr. Ekaterina Derevyanchuk
Guest Editors

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