Education and Training
Natascha Köstlin-Gille is a neonatologist, is head of the Perinatal Immunology working group in the Department of Neonatology at Heidelberg University Hospital and has held an endowed professorship from the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation at the Faculty of Medicine in Heidelberg since 2025. Natascha Köstlin-Gille studied human medicine at the University of Freiburg and completed her specialist training and further training in neonatology at the University Hospital in Tübingen. She also headed a research group in Tübingen and completed her habilitation in pediatrics and adolescent medicine in 2022.
Expertise
Natascha Köstlin-Gille's research group investigates the peculiarities of the immune system and its interaction with the microbiome during pregnancy and the neonatal period by combination of basic immunological studies with modern high-throughput methods, systems biology approaches and clinical research. The aim is to develop preventive and therapeutic approaches for immunologica/-inflammatory complications during the perinatal period and thus to prevent early damage, control imprinting processes in an individualized manner and improve long-term health.
- Immunology of pregnancy
- Immune adaptation of the newborn
- Microbiome-immune-interaction in the perinatal period
1. Schwarz J, Rühle J, Stephan K, Dietz S, Geißert J, Schoppmeier U, Frick JS, Hudalla H, Lajqi T, Poets CF, Gille C, Köstlin-Gille N, Targeted deletion of HIF-1α in myeloid cells of neonatal mice: decreased accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and altered microbiome. Eur J Immunol., 2023
2. Dietz S, Schwarz J, Velic A, González-Menéndez I, Quintanilla-Martinez L, Casadei N, Marmé A, Poets CF, Gille C, Köstlin-Gille N. Human Leucocyte Antigen G and Murine Qa-2 Are Critical for Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cell Expansion and Activation and for Successful Pregnancy Outcome. Front Immunol. 2022
3. Köstlin N., Schoetensack C., Schwarz J. Spring B, Marmé A., Goelz R., Brodbeck G., Poets CF, Gille C. Granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (GR-MDSC) in Breast Milk (BM): GR-MDSC accumulate in human BM and modulate T-cell and monocyte functions. Front Immunol, 2018
4. Köstlin N, Hofstädter K, Ostermeir AL, Spring B, Leiber A, Haen S, Abele H, Bauer P, Pollheimer J, Hartl D, Poets CF, Gille C. Granulocytic myeloid.derived suppressor cells accumulate in human placenta and polarize towards a Th2 phenotype. J Immunol, 2016
5. 29. Köstlin N, Kugel H, Spring B, Leiber A, Marmé A, Henes M, Rieber N, Hartl D, Poets CF, Gille C. Granulocytic myeloid derived suppressor cells expand in human pregnancy and modulate T-cell responses. Eur J Immunol, 2014
Rühle, Jessica | PhD Student | ||||
Snaidr, Laura | PhD Student |
Lung Research - Projects
1. The role of neonatal neutrophilic cells (NNC) in the maturation of airway immunity and the development of inflammatory lung diseases
Neutrophils are the first circulating immune cells responding to inflammation. However, there are significant differences in the immune response of adult and neonatal neutrophils. For example, neonates have a high number of neutrophils with immunosuppressive properties, so-called granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (GR-MDSC). In our project we investigate the role of NNC and in particular of GR-MDSC for the regulation of neonatal airway immunity and for the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in in vitro models and in animal models.
2. Inhaled probiotics as an approach for the prophylaxis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)
Various studies have shown that changes in the intestinal but also the airway microbiome in the sense of dysbiosis are associated with lung diseases in childhood. In the context of BPD, it was shown that the detection of Ureaplasma spp. and the absence (or low detection) of Lactobacillus spp. in the respiratory microbiome were associated with the occurrence of BPD. In our project, we are investigating the effect of inhaled administration of Lactobacillus rhamnosus on the composition of the airway microbiome and the pathogenesis of BPD in an animal model.