Richard M. van Rijn

Richard M. van Rijn has had a long and varied career in the field of disease biology. In 2021, they began working as a Principal Scientist Disease Biology for Septerna, where they lead the ex/vivo and in vivo efforts (PK/PD, disease models) for Septerna's CNS target drug development. Richard M. is also responsible for all CRO interactions (establishment, selection, follow up) for this target, as well as leading KOL meetings. In 2020, they were a Consultant for Carmot Therapeutics, Inc. and a Visiting Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, where they spent a semester long sabbatical in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Shoichet in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, acquiring skills in computational docking of ultra large virtual drug libraries at the delta opioid receptor. From 2013-2020, they were an Adjunct Associate Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor at Purdue University, where they supervised a research group of on average 10 members, including undergraduate students, graduate students and staff and research scientists. Richard M.'sresearch focused on G-protein-coupled receptors and their involvement in neurological disorders, using the opioid receptors as a model system. From 2007-2006, they worked as an Associate Research Scientist, Assistant Research Scientist, and Post-doctoral Research Scientist at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, where they studied the role of the delta opioid receptor in alcohol consumption, addiction, pain and anxiety. In 2006, they worked as an Associate Scientist at Biofocus DPI.

Richard M. van Rijn began their educational journey in 1991 when they attended Herbert Vissers College for secondary school. In 1997, they graduated and went on to pursue a B.Sc/M.Sc. in Bio-pharmaceutical sciences at Leiden University, which they completed in 2002. Following this, they went on to obtain a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) in 2006.