![\"Brown](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MLS-Headshot-240x300.jpg\")
Samulevich is currently a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Pharmacology and Toxicology track.<\/p>\n
During Samulevich\u2019s fourth year, the Pfizer Drug Safety Research and Development \/ University of Connecticut Graduate Student Research Fellowship was established.\u00a0 Once he heard about it, Samulevich decided to apply.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of a no-brainer for me because I wanted to do an internship, but I was nervous about what a classic internship would do to my research productivity,\u201d Samulevich said.<\/p>\n
When applying for the Pfizer fellowship, Samulevich said that there were very few issues that arose during the application process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne challenge was aligning my research with Pfizer\u2019s interest areas,\u201d Samulevich said. \u201cI had a definite plan of research for my thesis before the fellowship and since there was [so much] opportunity to get more done with their expertise and equipment, I had the chance to expand [my research].\u201d<\/p>\n
Pfizer requires applicants to put their research plans into a formal proposal, and Samulevich had so many ideas he had to cut some out of the write-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter you get all these ambitious ideas, you have to boil them down into a couple of pages,\u201d Samulevich said. \u201cAnd so that becomes a different challenge […] I\u2019ve got two pages to spell it [all] out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Samulevich wrote down all the research ideas he came up with for the fellowship.\u00a0 His research focuses on the protein TNIP1 which regulates inflammatory responses, specifically within the skin. Using a skin cell model\u00a0engineered in his lab\u00a0to lack this protein, he investigates its role in disease while also searching for small molecules that can bind to the protein\u2019s surface to influence its function.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project I proposed to Pfizer was that we were going to produce, in-house, a line of skin cells with the TNIP1 protein removed,\u201d Samulevich said. \u201cWe wanted to characterize this cell line to then use it as a model for screening the specificity of ligands that I have to probe the TNIP1 surface.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience with the Pfizer fellowship has helped Samulevich in some unexpected ways as well. Samulevich ended up developing an additional goal for his research that wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the fellowship\u2019s resources and support.<\/p>\n
Samulevich noted that additional opportunities came from the fellowship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Investigative Toxicology team that I was working with at Pfizer was especially fantastic about connecting me with professional opportunities like certain conferences that I wouldn\u2019t have otherwise considered,\u201d Samulevich said. \u201cThere were a couple of on-site courses that they encouraged me to attend that were beneficial for my academic development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aneskievich noted the breadth of expertise at Pfizer makes Pfizer an ideal partner for Samulevich\u2019s project.\u00a0 From the outset, the Pfizer team\u2019s collaborative approach contributed to many outcomes beyond conducting the research, including Mike\u2019s upcoming presentation at a conference in Washington, D.C., and his preparation of a manuscript for publication.<\/p>\n
Mike\u2019s scientific exchanges with the Pfizer team, along with these outcomes, underscore the value of this fellowship.\u00a0 It provides a transformative training opportunity for graduate students in our Pharmacology-Toxicology Ph.D. program via collaboration with an innovative biopharmaceutical leader.<\/p>\n
Aneskievich particularly wanted to acknowledge Raja Mangipudy, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Drug Safety and Development, and Vishal Vaidya, Vice President and Head of Science and Technology at Pfizer along with Jos\u00e9 Manautou here at UConn SoPPS, whose leadership and commitment were instrumental in establishing this fellowship.<\/p>\n
Gregory Riley III is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Pharmacology and Toxicology track in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from College of the Holy Cross and became interested in pharmaceutical sciences after taking a toxicology course, which motivated him to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry. He then spent five years at a biotechnology company working on CAR T cell therapies before matriculating into the Ph.D. program at UConn.<\/p>\n Riley\u2019s research with Pfizer focuses on investigating the role of estrogen and estrogen receptor alpha in inflammatory activation and function of alveolar macrophages. These resident immune cells perform critical regulatory roles and defend the lung against inhaled pathogens, dust, and debris. He has proposed to study these mechanisms using a novel ex vivo <\/em>primary alveolar macrophage culture method.<\/p>\n The Pfizer fellowship has helped Riley in numerous ways. \u201c[The Pfizer fellowship] has greatly expanded the scope of my research by providing access to diverse and cutting-edge technologies that allow me to pursue exciting new questions that were not possible to explore in my PI\u2019s laboratory,\u201d Riley said. \u201cThe fellowship will also enhance my professional development through networking opportunities with career toxicologists and hone my scientific communication skills by presenting at project meetings and during the company-wide research presentation symposium.<\/p>\n Riley gave a lot of praise to his advisors.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Smith was incredibly helpful at refining the written proposal and my elevator pitch,\u201d Riley said.<\/p>\n Riley has some goals for his Pfizer fellowship as well, \u201cIn addition to expanding my own research, I am hoping to benefit Pfizer scientists by incorporating our novel alveolar macrophage cell culture model into their preclinical studies.\u201d This work is ongoing and is expected to conclude at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UConn School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Ph.D. students, Michael Samulevich and Gregory Riley III, have the opportunity to work directly with Pfizer Scientists through the Pfizer Fellowship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":245090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2715],"class_list":["post-245085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pharm","attribution-engineering-for-human-rights"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 05:39:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245091,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245085\/revisions\/245091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/245090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245085"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=245085"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=245085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"second](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uconn-school-of-pharmacy-professionalism-portraits_54959736291_o-240x300.jpg\")