The mission of the Van Rijn lab is to uncover new strategies to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders. We specifically investigate the heavily co-morbid triad of ​drug use disorders, chronic pain disorders and mood disorders. Our primary target, the ​delta opioid receptor, is involved in the neuropharmacology of all three disorders and thus offers an exciting novel approach to treat these disorders. The Van Rijn lab covers all aspects of preclinical drug development including drug synthesis, drug screening, pharmacological characterization both in vitro and in vivo. We also perform mechanistic studies to improve our understanding of the etiology of these disorders.

News - 2022

July 13th, 2022 - Congratulations to Arryn Blaine for acceptance of her manuscript "Exploration of beta-arrestin isoform signaling pathways in delta opioid receptor agonist-induced convulsions" in Frontiers in Pharmacology.

July 13th, 2022 - Congratulations to Yazan Meqbil for acceptance of his manuscript "Opportunities and Challenges for In Silico Drug Discovery at Delta Opioid Receptors" in Pharmaceuticals.

June 22th, 2022 - Congratulations to Arryn Blaine for presenting and successfully defending her thesis "Cellular and Behavioral Characterization of Delta Opioid Receptor Mediated Beta-Arrestin Signaling" to acquire the title of PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.

June 6th, 2022 - Yazan Meqbil will be virtually attending the Duke Machine Learning Summer School held from June 6-10th.

May 26th, 2022 - Yazan Meqbil was selected to attend the NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) summer school in person at Tufts University from August 1-5,  where he will continue to strengthen his skills and expertise in using AI in drug discovery

May 16th, 2022 - Dina Pharma received a small business technology transfer research (STTR) grant from NIAAA for a collaborative grant submitted with Dr. van Rijn to characterize Novel Bifunctional Small Molecules for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder. 

May 13th, 2022 - Our editorial "Opioids and Their Receptors: Present and Emerging Concepts in Opioid Drug Discovery II​" was published as part of the Molecules special issue with the same title.

April 30th, 2022 - Congratulations to Arryn Blaine for receiving the 2022 The Graduating Graduate Student Award during the Purdue AAARCC and Asian Student Union Board InspirAsian: Graduation, Student Leadership Celebration, and Multicultural Showcase event on April 30.

March 25th, 2022 - Our manuscript "Sex and beta-arrestin-dependent effects of kappa opioid receptor mediated ethanol consumption in C57BL/6 mice" has been accepted in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. 

​January 18th, 2022 - Our invited review "An updated assessment of the translational promise of G-protein-biased kappa opioid receptor agonists to treat pain and other indications without debilitating adverse effects" was accepted in Pharmacological Research IUPHAR themed issue - Biased G Protein Receptor Signalling.
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If you appreciate the research carried out in the Van Rijn lab and support our goals feel free to donate to the advancement of science. Donations will be used to help support (undergraduate) students and carry out experiments exploring exciting new preliminary projects, currently not funded through other mechanisms.
Donations can be made by specifically mentioning the Van Rijn lab at the following Purdue University website:

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS

July 13th, 2022 - Our manuscript "Opportunities and Challenges for In Silico Drug Discovery at Delta Opioid Receptors" was accepted in Pharmaceuticals.

July 13th, 2022 - Our manuscript "Exploration of beta-arrestin isoform signaling pathways in delta opioid receptor agonist-induced convulsions" was accepted in Frontiers in Pharmacology.

May 13th, 2022 - Our editorial "Opioids and Their Receptors: Present and Emerging Concepts in Opioid Drug Discovery II​" was published as part of the Molecules special issue with the same title.
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March 25th, 2022 - Our manuscript "Sex and beta-arrestin-dependent effects of kappa opioid receptor mediated ethanol consumption in C57BL/6 mice" has been accepted in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. 

January 18th, 2022 - Our invited review "An updated assessment of the translational promise of G-protein-biased kappa opioid receptor agonists to treat pain and other indications without debilitating adverse effects" was accepted in Pharmacological Research IUPHAR themed issue - Biased G Protein Receptor Signalling.

November 26th, 2021 - Our latest manuscript "Identification of a novel delta opioid receptor agonist chemotype with potential negative allosteric modulator capabilities" has been accepted in Molecules. in the special issue Opioids and Their Receptors: Present and Emerging Concepts in Opioid Drug Discovery II

​October 8th, 2021 - Our second collaborative kratom manuscript with the Majumdar lab at St. Louis College of Pharmacy entitled "Evaluation of kratom opioid derivatives as potential treatment option for alcohol use disorder" was accepted in Frontiers in Pharmacology for their special issue "The pharmacology of kratom and its alkaloids"

​September 1st, 2021 - A manuscript, "A novel mitragynine analog displays low efficacy mu opioid agonism at Gi/o subtypes and antinociception with attenuated adverse effects" describing the discovery of a novel mu opioid partial agonist with beneficial in vivo effects by the Majumdar lab that we collaborated on has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

August 11th, 2021 - Our second collaborative manuscript with the Altman lab "Modulating β-Arrestin-2 Recruitment at the δ- and μ-Opioid Receptors" has been accepted for publication in RCS Medicinal Chemistry. 

August 3rd, 2021 - Our manuscript "β-Arrestin–dependent ERK signaling reduces anxiety-like and conditioned fear–related behaviors in mice" was published in Science Signaling and an experimental image was used as coverart
Disclaimer of opinion
The information, statements and opinions presented on the the Van Rijn lab website are solely expressed by Dr. van Rijn and do not necessarily represent views held by Purdue University.