Vinn has described new genera and species of brachiopods, cornulitids, microconchids, serpulid polychaetes and trace fossils. He is a specialist of extinct tubicolous fossils. A microconchid species Microconchus vinni is named in honour of his taxonomic studies of tentaculitoid tubeworms.^[3]

Vinn has described the majority of the annelid skeletal ultrastructures. Oriented tube structures are present in many serpulid species and cannot be explained by the standard carbonate slurry model. Vinn and his co-authors have hypothesized that oriented structures in serpulid tubes have been secreted in the same way as in mollusc shells, based on their ultrastructural similarity. Vinn and his co-authors proposed alternative ways to explain the calcified secretory granules described by Neff^[4] in the lumen of the calcium-secreting glands in serpulids. They proposed that worm actually produces calcium-saturated mucus in the glands. The mucus is then deposited on the tube aperture, where crystallization of the structure is controlled by an organic matrix, as in molluscs. The calcified granules in the glands may only be an artifact of fixation and formed after the death of the worm.^[5]

Vinn has studied the evolution of symbiosis in several groups of early invertebrates such as cornulitids, microconchids, bryozoans, brachiopods, crinoids, stromatoporoids, tabulates and rugosans. He has described serpulid faunas of Mesozoic to Recent hydrocarbon seeps.^[2] A Late Devonian coral species ?Michelinia vinni is named in honour of his contribution to knowledge of ecology of Palaeozoic bioconstructing organisms.^[6] A crinoid species name Hiiumaacrinus vinni recognizes his significant contributions to the Silurian paleontology of Estonia.^[7]

Some of Vinn's more important publications include:

• Vinn, O.; ten Hove, H.A.; Mutvei, H.; Kirsimäe, K. (2008). "Ultrastructure and mineral composition of serpulid tubes (Polychaeta, Annelida)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 154 (4): 633–650. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00421.x.
• Vinn, O.; Jäger, M.; Kirsimäe, K. (2008). "Microscopic evidence of serpulid affinities of the problematic fossil tube "Serpula" etalensis from the Lower Jurassic of Germany". Lethaia. 41 (4): 417–421. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2008.00093.x.
• Vinn, O (2009). "Attempted predation on Early Paleozoic cornulitids". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 273 (1–2): 87–91. Bibcode:2009PPP...273...87V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.12.004.
• Vinn, O (2010). "Adaptive strategies in the evolution of encrusting tentaculitoid tubeworms". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 292 (1–2): 211–221. Bibcode:2010PPP...292..211V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.03.046.
• Vinn, O.; ten Hove, H.A. (2011). "Microstructure and formation of the calcareous operculum in Pyrgopolon ctenactis and Spirobranchus giganteus (Annelida, Serpulidae)". Zoomorphology. 130 (3): 181–188. doi:10.1007/s00435-011-0133-0. S2CID 41765489.
• Vinn, O. and Mõtus, M.-A. 2012. Diverse early endobiotic coral symbiont assemblage from the Katian (Late Ordovician) of Baltica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 321–322, 137–141.
• Vinn, O (2013). "On the unique isotropic aragonitic tube microstructure of some serpulids (Polychaeta, Annelida)". Journal of Morphology. 274 (4): 478–482. doi:10.1002/jmor.20112. PMID 23280721. S2CID 3237209.
• Vinn, O (2013). "SEM study of semi-oriented tube microstructures of Serpulidae (Polychaeta, Annelida): implications for the evolution of complex oriented microstructures". Microscopy Research and Technique. 76 (5): 453–456. doi:10.1002/jemt.22186. PMID 23408686. S2CID 28986837.
• Vinn, O (2013). "Occurrence, formation and function of organic sheets in the mineral tube structures of Serpulidae (Polychaeta, Annelida)". PLOS ONE. 8 (10): e75330. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...875330V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075330. PMC 3792063. PMID 24116035.
• Vinn, O.; Kupriyanova, E.K.; Kiel, S. (2013). "Serpulids (Annelida, Polychaeta) at Cretaceous to modern hydrocarbon seeps: ecologic and evolutionary patterns". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 390: 35–41. Bibcode:2013PPP...390...35V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.08.003.
• Vinn, O.; Mõtus, M.-A. (2014). "Endobiotic rugosan symbionts in stromatoporoids from the Sheinwoodian (Silurian) of Baltica". PLOS ONE. 9 (2): e90197. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...990197V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090197. PMC 3934990. PMID 24587277.
• Kupriyanova, E.K.; Vinn, O.; Taylor, P.D.; Schopf, J.W.; Kudryavtsev, A.; Bailey-Brock, J. (2014). "Serpulids living deep: calcareous tubeworms beyond the abyss". Deep-Sea Research Part I. 90: 91–104. Bibcode:2014DSRI...90...91K. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2014.04.006.
• Vinn, O.; Wilson, M.A.; Mõtus, M.-A. (2014). "The earliest giant Osprioneides borings from the Sandbian (Late Ordovician) of Estonia". PLOS ONE. 9 (6): e99455. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...999455V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099455. PMC 4047083. PMID 24901511.
• Vinn, O.; Wilson, M.A.; Toom, U. (2014). "Earliest rhynchonelliform brachiopod parasite from the Late Ordovician of northern Estonia (Baltica)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 411: 42–45. Bibcode:2014PPP...411...42V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.06.028.
• Vinn, O.; Wilson, M.A.; Mõtus, M.-A.; Toom, U. (2014). "The earliest bryozoan parasite: Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) of Osmussaar Island, Estonia". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 414: 129–132. Bibcode:2014PPP...414..129V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.08.021.
• Chan, V.; Vinn, O.; Li, C.; Lu, X.; Kudryavtsev, A.B.; Schopf, J.W.; Shih, K.; Zhang, T.; Thiyagarajan, V. (2015). "Evidence of compositional and ultrastructural shifts during the development of calcareous tubes in the biofouling tubeworm, Hydroides elegans". Journal of Structural Biology. 189 (3): 230–237. doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2015.01.004. PMID 25600412.

• Estonian Science Portal
• ResearchGate
• Olev Vinn's publications