Eight KI researchers receive Curie grants from the EU in record competition
Eight young researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded Curie grants within the EU's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). This means strengthened opportunities to conduct research that can contribute to future medical breakthroughs – from the role of mitochondria in disease to the brain's body experience and new strategies for allergy treatment. The competition has been particularly intense in this year's call, where 1,610 projects were selected from a record 17,066 applications.
MSCA is part of the EU's research initiative Horizon Europe and the Union's flagship programme for funding doctoral and postdoctoral education. The aim is to strengthen the independence of young researchers, stimulate international mobility and provide the opportunity to develop new ideas in state-of-the-art research environments.
In the call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025, KI is particularly strong with eight approved projects, which is the highest number among Swedish higher education institutions.
The grants normally run for two years and include funding for salaries, supervision, research costs and mobility. For the recipients, this means both security and power to deepen their projects.
Researchers and projects at KI awarded Curie grants
Project AllergyREBELL: Revealing the neuroimmune communication for better treatment outcomes in food allergy
Postdoctoral fellow: Anna Ehlers
Principal investigator: Sébastien Talbot, principal researcher, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
Project DYNAMITE: Dynamic mapping of mitochondrial translation initiation and elongation
Postdoctoral fellow: Vlad-Julian Pilyukov
Principal investigator: Joanna Rorbach, principal researcher, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Project GERMFIT: Decoding the laws of human primordial germ cell-like cell development
Postdoctoral fellow: Leah McHugh
Principal investigator: João Pedro Alves-Lopes, assistant professor, Department of Women's and Children's Health
Projekt IMAPERFAT: Unmasking the perivascular adipose tissue's role in diabetic vascular disease from molecular clues to clinical impact
Postdoctoral fellow: Cheuk Yau (Jane) Luk
Principal investigator: Carolina Hagberg, principal researcher, Department of Medicine, Solna
Project MitoSwitch: Functional characterisation of redox switches in mitochondrial metabolism
Postdoctoral fellow: Julia Vorhauser
Principal investigator: Anna Wredenberg, professor, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Project PLASMA-HEAL: Exploring plasma-cell role in mucosal healing
Postdoctoral fellow: Mora Massaro
Principal investigator: Eduardo Villablanca, professor, Department of Medicine, Solna
Projekt SCINOBO: Spatial coherence and neural integration in full-body ownership: Behavioral and neuroimaging investigations
Postdoctoral fellow: Yatong Wen
Principal investigator: Henrik Ehrsson, professor, Department of Neuroscience
Project SHINE-Vax: Smart hydrogel microneedle patches for mRNA nanoparticle vaccination
Postdoctoral fellow: Ming Li
Principal investigator: Molly Stevens, professor, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Record interest and tough competition
In this year's call for MSCA, the competition has been tougher than usual, 17,066 applications. This is the highest figure in the 40 years of the EU's framework programme for research and innovation.
In the end, 1,610 projects were selected, corresponding to a 9.6 percent success rate. The total allocation is EUR 404.3 million, approximately SEK 4.3 billion to young researchers from 80 different countries.