Skip to main content

PD Dr. Stefanie Gilles

Research Group Leader Environmental Immunology
+49 821 598 6412Email meBuilding/Room: UK Augsburg, administrative building 3 / 034

"What makes an allergen an allergen?"

"What makes an allergen an allergen?"

Research Areas

Stefanie Gilles' mission is to decipher innate immune signatures that are necessary and sufficient to break peripheral tolerance and initiate allergic sensitization. This research will help to identify novel allergens, but it might also lead to the development of allergenicity bioassays that could replace animal models in the future.

A second focus is on the immune response of the nasal mucosa under co-exposure to microbes and allergens, e. g. viruses and pollen. This is relevant, since under real-life conditions, humans are never exposed to ‘isolated’ allergens or viruses, but to complex, mixed bioaerosols. Therefore, it is important to study the mucosal immune system in the context of co-exposure. The research on cross-signaling between infection and allergy will point out currently underestimated risk exposures.

Stefanie Gilles studied Biology at LMU. After she had obtained her PhD, she worked as a postdoc in on TLR signaling in human dendritic cell subsets. In 2006, Dr. Gilles joined the group of Prof. Traidl-Hoffmann at ZAUM – Center for Allergy and Environment, TUM, where she started working with dendritic cells in the context of pollen allergy.

In 2014, she moved with the new Chair of Environmental Medicine, UNIKA-T, to Augsburg, where she started being a group leader. Since 2021, she is heading the Environmental Immunology group at the Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg. She has been affiliated with the Helmholtz Center Munich as a guest scientist from 2014 until today.

Dr. Gilles supervised 4 bachelor-, 5 master-, 5 PhD and 3 MD theses and has lectured in the field of allergology in the HELENA lecture series of HMGU. She is currently involved in building up the Environmental Health and Lung Research School at Helmholtz Munich.

Her current team in Augsburg has 3 PhD students, 3 MD students and a technician. The methods used are cell culture models, organoids, human ‘real-life’ biomonitoring, and experimental exposure studies.

 

Fields of Work and Expertise

Innate Immunity  Allergic Rhinitis  Respiratory Viruses  Primary Cell Culture  Nasal Biomarkers  Dendritic Cells   Pollen  Human Biomonitoring  Allergen Challenge   Climate Change and Allergies  

Professional Career

2021

Group leader Environmental Immunology, Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg

2017

Habilitation in Experimental Allergology at the Technical University of Munich

2014

Group leader Environmental Immunology, Chair of Environmental Medicine, UNIKA-T, Technical University of Munich

2004

PhD at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

1999

Diploma in Biology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

 

Honors and Awards

  • 2015
    Travel Grant
    World Immune Regulation Meeting (WIRM)

  • 2011
    ‘Habilitation’ stipend Science Career II
    Technical University of Munich

  • 2007
    Best Oral Abstract
    26th Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)

  • 2005
    HWP II Postdoctoral stipend
    Technical University of Munich

suppa - stock.adobe.com

Publications

Read more