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Information about the corona virus for staff and students

Early signs of Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down’s syndrome

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have studied the incidence and regional distribution of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in the brains of people with Down’s syndrome. The results can bring new possibilities for earlier diagnosis and preventive treatment of dementia. The study is published in Molecular Neurodegeneration.

The new coronavirus

Digital CBT effective for severe COVID-19 worry

Worry about COVID-19 dominates some people’s lives in a way that has an impact on their health. A group of researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has developed a digital CBT programme that significantly reduced the participants’ unhelpful worry about the pandemic. The study is published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics and the programme is available through 1177 Vårdguiden.

Promising results from in vitro combination therapy against COVID-19

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report promising results from an in vitro combination therapy against COVID-19. In a study published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, the researchers show that a combination of remdesivir and hrsACE2 reduced the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibited viral replication in cell cultures and organoids.

Baricitinib treatment linked to reduced mortality in COVID-19 patients

The rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib can block viral entry and reduce mortality in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, according to a study coordinated by researchers from Karolinska Institutet. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

Survey of COVID-19 research provides fresh overview

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have explored all COVID-19 research published during the initial phase of the pandemic. The results, which were achieved by using a machine learning-based approach and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, will make it easier to direct future research to where it is most needed.

Find out more at the COVID-19 Resource Hub

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are responding to the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, through a myriad of initiatives. For more news and features on the work being conducted at Karolinska Institutet, including vaccine and drug development, please see the COVID-19 Resource Hub.

Frozen eggs and ovarian tissue helped women conceive after breast cancer

Women with breast cancer whose eggs or ovarian tissue were frozen had more children after their diagnosis than women who did not undergo fertility preservation using those methods before start of cancer treatment. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, published in JAMA Oncology.

KI authorised to award new medical degrees

Next autumn KI will launch a new medical programme to gradually replace the current one. The Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) has now granted Karolinska Institutet degree-awarding powers for the new programme, making KI one of seven Swedish universities authorised to issue medical degrees.

KI receives SEK 290 million from Cancer Society

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded a grant of SEK 290 million from the Swedish Cancer Society, meaning that over one third of the total grant of SEK 709 million, divided amongst eleven universities, is going to cancer research at KI. Two of the recipients are associate professor Mattias Rantalainen and Professor Fang Fang.

Greatly increased risk of attempted suicide in girls after sexual abuse

Girls who have been sexually abused run a much higher risk of psychiatric ill health with depression and anxiety, leading to possible alcohol abuse and suicide. This persists even after intervention, reports a study from Karolinska Institutet published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Early-life events linked to lung health in young adulthood

Early-life events, such as the exposure to air pollutants, increases the risk of chronic lung disease in young adulthood, according to new results published in the European Respiratory Journal and Thorax. The studies add to the growing evidence that chronic lung disease in adulthood can be traced back to childhood.

Mid-levels of immune marker at birth may protect against autism

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated the association between certain immune markers in neonates and the risk of later developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They found that mid-levels of a classical marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein, were associated with the lowest risk for ASD – whereas too much or not enough were linked to increased risk. The study is published in the scientific journal Biological Psychiatry.

Anti-depressant repurposed to treat childhood cancer

A new study has found that a commonly prescribed anti-depressant may halt growth of a type of cancer known as childhood sarcoma, at least in mice and laboratory cell experiments. The findings ignite hope of novel treatment strategies against this disease. The study is published in the journal Cancer Research.

KI receives over SEK 440 million from Swedish Research Council for medical research

The Swedish Research Council has awarded five-year grants totalling SEK 442,680,000 to 110 researchers at Karolinska Institutet. All in all, the SRC is awarding almost SEK 1 billion to 247 researchers in the fields of medicine and health.

KI collaboration awarded ERC Synergy Grant of almost SEK 100 million

Professor András Simon of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) and two fellow researchers in Canada and Switzerland have been awarded a grant of almost SEK 100 million by the European Research Council. The aim of the project, which goes under the acronym Salamandra, is to understand how locomotor functions can be restored after damage to the nervous system.

Top-publications list

A limited selection of recent publications in high impact journals to which researchers at KI have contributed.

Study ends discussion about drugs for diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease
Similar cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diabetes and established or high risk for coronary vascular disease treated with dulaglutide with and without baseline metformin, Ferrannini G et al, European Heart Journal, November 2020.

Early sotagliflozin therapy effective in diabetes patients with heart failure
Sotagliflozin in Patients with Diabetes and Recent Worsening Heart Failure, Deepak L et al., NEJM, November 2020.

Dopamine regulates synchronicity in the activity of striatal neurons
Polysynaptic inhibition between striatal cholinergic interneurons shapes their network activity patterns in a dopamine-dependent manner, Matthijs C. Dorst, et al, Nature Communications, October 2020.

More high impact publications

KI in the media

The Macchiarini case: timeline

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View a summary of the events and decisions in the Macchiarini case.

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Professors' inauguration 2020

On 15 October 2020, fourteen new professors were inaugurated at Karolinska Institutet in solemn forms in Aula Medica. The professors' inauguration ceremony is one of the highlights of the academic year of our university. This year due to the pandemic, the ceremony was partly held digitally.

President‘s blog

Ten questions (plus one extra) for KI’s new chairman of the university board

In a sense, Göran Stiernstedt will have come full circle when he takes up office as KI chairperson on 1 May 2020. He once took his medical degree at KI, and now he’s back.

Spotlight on COVID-19

In early 2020, a new coronavirus was identified in China, and it has now caused a worldwide pandemic. The official name for this virus is SARS-CoV-2, and the disease that is caused by the virus is called COVID-19. Here we present news and features about KI's efforts to stop the new coronavirus.

Meet our researchers

What causes depression and why is fat cells so hard to study? These are some of the questions that researchers at KI are interested in. Find interviews and articles prevously published here at the news site or in our popular-science magazine, Medicinsk Vetenskap.

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