Rebecca Miles

Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology

I Serve in...

Biology, Environmental Science & Sustainable Development Department

Education

• PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine
• MS, Biology, College of William and Mary
• BS, Pre-Med Biology and Political Science, Indiana Wesleyan University

Career Highlights

Over her 30-year career in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research, Dr. Miles has been recognized for leveraging genomic technologies to develop small molecule, peptide, antibody, and oligonucleotide medicines in therapeutic areas including osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and neurodegeneration.

In recent years, Dr. Miles played a pivotal role at Lilly Genetic Medicines, spearheading the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics. She is an active member of the broader oligonucleotide community, serving on the board of directors of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Society as president-elect.

Upon her retirement from Eli Lilly in 2024, Dr. Miles took on the role of CEO at ReiNA Consulting LLC and will be teaching as a visiting Assistant Professor in the Biology department.

Featured Work

Patents

• WO2024123646A2 Modified oligonucleotides. Jibo Wang, Rebecca Ruth Miles, Lacie Marie Chauvigne-Hines, Suntara Cayha, Isabel C Gonzalez Valcarcel.
• WO2023177972A1 Sarm1 rna interference agents, Nicholas Alan Babb, Selene Hernandez Buquer, Gregory Lawrence Lackner, Rebecca Ruth Miles, Douglas Raymond Perkins, Jibo Wang, Yaming Wang, Yea Jin Kaeser-Woo
• US20230212576A1 Mapt rna interference agents, Barbara Calamani, Sarah Katharina Fritschi, Rebecca Ruth Miles, Peter McCarthy, Douglas Raymond Perkins, Keith Geoffrey Phillips, Kaushambi Roy, Isabel Cristina Gonzalez Valcarcel, Jibo Wang, Shih-Ying Wu, Jeremy S. York
• WO2022271808A1, Novel rna therapeutics and uses thereof, Rebecca Ruth Miles, Jibo Wang, Melissa Ann Bellinger, Thomas Patrick Beyer, Christine Chih-Tao Cheng, MariJean Eggen, Gregory Lawrence Lackner
• US8802921 B2, CA2787594C, AU 2015210438 B2: Engineered landing pads for gene targeting in plants. William M. Ainley, Ryan C. Blue, Michael G. Murray, David Corbin, Rebecca R. Miles, Steven R. Webb
• WO2001023562A9: Osteoprotegerin Regulatory Region. Chandrasekhar S, Halladay DL, Martin TJ, Miles R, Onyia JE, and Thirunavukkarasu K.

Publications

Deprey K, Batistatou N, Debets MF, Godfrey J, VanderWall KB, Miles RR, Shehaj L, Guo J, Andreucci A, Kandasamy P, Lu G, Shimizu M, Vargeese C, Kritzer JA. Quantitative Measurement of Cytosolic and Nuclear Penetration of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics. ACS Chem Biol. 2022 Feb 18;17 (2):348-360. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.1c00830. Epub 2022 Jan 15. PMID: 35034446; PMCID: PMC9252293

Miles RR, Amin PH, Diaz MB, Misra J, Aukerman E, Das A, Ghosh N, Guith T, Knierman MD, Roy S, Spandau DF, Wek RC. The eIF2 kinase GCN2 directs keratinocyte collective cell migration during wound healing via coordination of reactive oxygen species and amino acids. J Biol Chem. 2021 Nov;297 (5):101257. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101257. Epub 2021 Sep 29. PMID: 34597669; PMCID: PMC8554533

Borg ML, Massart J, Schönke M, De Castro Barbosa T, Guo L, Wade M, Alsina-Fernandez J, Miles R, Ryan A, Bauer S, Coskun T, O'Farrell E, Niemeier EM, Chibalin AV, Krook A, Karlsson HK, Brozinick JT, Zierath JR. Modified UCN2 Peptide Acts as an Insulin Sensitizer in Skeletal Muscle of Obese Mice. Diabetes. 2019 Jul;68 (7):1403-1414. doi: 10.2337/db18-1237. Epub 2019 Apr 22. PMID: 31010957.

Ainley WM, Sastry-Dent L, Welter ME, Murray MG, Zeitler B, Amora R, Corbin DR, Miles RR, Arnold NL, Strange TL, Simpson MA, Cao Z, Carroll C, Pawelczak KS, Blue R, West K, Rowland LM, Perkins D, Samuel P, Dewes CM, Shen L, Sriram S, Evans SL, Rebar EJ, Zhang L, Gregory PD, Urnov FD, Webb SR, Petolino JF. Trait stacking via targeted genome editing. Plant Biotechnol J. 2013 Dec;11 (9):1126-34. doi: 10.1111/pbi.12107. Epub 2013 Aug 19. PMID: 23953646.

Miles RR, Perry W, Haas JV, Mosior MK, N'Cho M, Wang JW, Yu P, Calley J, Yue Y, Carter Q, Han B, Foxworthy P, Kowala MC, Ryan TP, Solenberg PJ, Michael LF. Genome-wide screen for modulation of hepatic apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) secretion. J Biol Chem. 2013 Mar 1;288 (9):6386-96. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.410092. Epub 2013 Jan 15. PMID: 23322769; PMCID: PMC3585073

Wei T, Kulkarni NH, Zeng QQ, Helvering LM, Lin X, Lawrence F, Hale L, Chambers MG, Lin C, Harvey A, Ma YL, Cain RL, Oskins J, Carozza MA, Edmondson DD, Hu T, Miles RR, Ryan TP, Onyia JE, Mitchell PG. Analysis of early changes in the articular cartilage transcriptisome in the rat meniscal tear model of osteoarthritis: pathway comparisons with the rat anterior cruciate transection model and with human osteoarthritic cartilage. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2010 Jul;18(7):992-1000. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2010.04.012. Epub 2010 Apr 29. PMID: 20434574