Researcher
dr. Gül Kilinç
My work centers on host immune responses involved in intracellular bacterial infections, with a focus on host-directed therapies (HDT) that aim to boost host defenses, improve treatment outcomes, and limit antibiotic resistance. During my MSc in Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University, I completed an internship in Tom Ottenhoff’s group (department of Infectious Diseases), exploring HDT as a treatment strategy for mycobacterial infections. Building on this experience, I returned to the same group for my PhD, where I focused specifically on advancing HDT for Mycobacterium avium (Mav) infection.
During my PhD, I developed human cell–based infection models to evaluate existing drugs for their ability to enhance host control of intracellular Mav infection. Using these models, I identified several promising HDT candidates and investigated the host pathways mediating their effects, including autophagy and reactive oxygen species production. In parallel, I characterized host responses to Mav infection by performing transcriptomic analyses of infected primary human macrophages, using Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected cells as a reference. These analyses revealed both shared and Mav infection-enriched pathways, highlighting potential host targets for HDT development for Mav infection.
Motivated to strengthen the translational impact of antimicrobial strategies, I recently started my postdoc by joining an Open Science NL Replication Studies project, investigating whether drug-induced phospholipidosis confounds antimicrobial drug discovery.
Publications
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Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Human Macrophages During Mycobacterium avium Versus Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.
Kilinç G, van den Biggelaar RHGA, Ottenhoff THM, Mei LH, Saris A.
Mol Microbiol. 2026;125(3):185-202. doi:10.1111/mmi.70045
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Phenothiazines boost host control of Mycobacterium avium infection in primary human macrophages.
Kilinç G, Ottenhoff THM, Saris A.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2025;185:117941. doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2025.117941
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Host-directed therapy with amiodarone in preclinical models restricts mycobacterial infection and enhances autophagy.
Kilinç G, Boland R, Heemskerk MT, et al
Microbiol Spectr. 2024;12(8):e0016724. doi:10.1128/spectrum.00167-24
