Degree Program: Ph.D., Pharmacology
Anticipated Graduation: 2026
Advisor: Vishnu Suppiramaniam
Co-Advisors: Miranda Reed and Subhrajit Bhattacharya
Email: mtw0055@auburn.edu
Miles Wiley is a Ph.D. candidate mentored by Drs. Miranda Reed and Vishnu Suppiramaniam. His research focuses on the molecular and electrophysiological mechanisms underlying prenatal cannabinoid exposure (PCE) and its effects on synaptic plasticity and memory.
As an undergraduate at Tuskegee University, Miles interned at Fidelity Investments in Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, for two summers in 2017 and 2018. There, he gained invaluable knowledge in data analytics and led a robotics project to increase document scanning by 10%. In the summer of 2020, he was offered an internship at Cytovance Biologics, which was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not wanting to waste the summer, he conducted an independent study on precision medicine and self-learned R and Python to analyze genomic data. During the pandemic, he worked virtually with Dr. Clayton Yates and Dr. Jessie Jaynes at Tuskegee University, applying his data analytic skills to identify potential biomarkers for treating sarcoma and carcinoma.
In his senior year at Tuskegee (Fall 2020), Wiley worked at the Auburn University Center for Pharmacogenomics and Single-Cell Omics (AUPharmGx). There, he identified genomic and pharmacogenomic factors affecting multiple myeloma, focusing on African-American patients. His role included using an algorithm to identify potential FDA-approved drugs for repurposing and performing cell culture work to analyze tumor regression following treatment. Additionally, he conducted daily qPCR quality assurance testing for COVID-19 saliva samples to monitor the efficacy of a saliva-based testing program at Auburn University.
Wiley’s interest in neuroscience research was sparked by learning about the pharmaceutical industry from his father, a healthcare professional at Thea Pharmaceuticals. This passion led him to pursue a Ph.D. to advance innovative therapeutics for minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged patients.
During the summer leading to graduate school, he received the GEM (Graduate Education for Minorities) Fellowship and the NIH T32 Graduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (G-RISE) Fellowship. He also worked as a Biologics Clinical Supply Chain Intern at Janssen Research and Development, producing monoclonal antibodies for clinical studies and scaling drugs, including an Alzheimer’s drug that progressed from phase 1 to phase 3. After being recognized for his exceptional work, he returned to Janssen as a Neuroscience External Innovation Intern in Boston, MA, in 2021, where he performed due diligence on neurodegenerative disease therapeutics.
For the first three years of his graduate studies, Miles was an NIGMS G-RISE fellow. The program aims to create a diverse pool of scientists prepared to enter the biomedical research field. Throughout the year, he participated in activities to support underrepresented groups, attended seminars, and presented at G-RISE symposiums. He completed two laboratory rotations in his first year of graduate school, supplemented by ex vivo and in vitro training.
After his first year, he transitioned to the Center of Neuroscience Initiative (CNSi) at Auburn University to work with Drs. Suppiramaniam and Reed on NIH projects. During his second year, he brought experience with various techniques, including western blotting, DNA isolation, qPCR, and cell culture, to the lab. He received training in electrophysiology techniques, including whole-cell patch clamp and field recordings, which form the basis of his dissertation project.