News archive

On 29 January, KI's Professional Services gathered for a first staff meeting in the new organisation. All offices were introduced and researcher Ylva Trolle Lagerros described how Professional Services and research are linked at KI. Below is a summary of the information shared at the meeting.

Cecilia Lundholm is the coordinator of Clinicum's advisory network, the network of methodology experts who help researchers with methodological issues. Cecilia is also an advisor in the network, in biostatistics and epidemiology with a special focus on reproductive epidemiology and pediatric epidemiology. In addition, she is the head of the department's applied biostatistics group.

Fellow-KI researchers Anders Kvanta and Fredrik Lanner have been awarded a grant of SEK 10 million from the Promobilia foundation to develop a treatment for inherited retinal diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). There is currently no effective therapies for these diseases, which are the main cause of blindness in the developed world.

The MSCA Doctoral Network RESPIRE-EXCEL is announcing 15 PhD positions to study precision medicine for respiratory diseases. One position is currently announced at Karolinska Institutet.

Patricia Colque, a long-time co-worker at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, passed away earlier this week at the age of 77 years.

The year started off with a visit by the Getinge leadership team to the Global Child Health & SDGs group. During the visit, ongoing research and doctoral programs in Indonesia and Vietnam, in collaboration with Carl Bennet, were discussed. Critical care initiatives, focusing on mothers and newborns, conducted in partnership with Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya, Indonesia, and Phu San Hanoi Hospital in Vietnam, was presented. Additionally, progress was reviewed and future plans were outlined.

In Q2 2025, KI's central Active Directory (AD/directory service) will be updated to the latest version. Before this update, local system owners or department technicians must check the systems connected to KI's central AD.

T-cells from the liver and lymph nodes show promising potential for future treatments of liver cancer, according to a new study. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated how immune cells react to tumor-specific antigens in the complex environment surrounding liver cancer.

The Trustworthy & Ethical AI Lab (TEA Lab) has been established at Center for Social Sustainability (CSS) as an interdisciplinary research initiative focused on promoting ethical, transparent, and sustainable AI applications in healthcare. The TEA Lab will align its work with the EU Guidelines for Trustworthy AI and combine expertise from fields including medicine, philosophy, psychology and social sciences.

Between October 3-4, 2024, five separate evacuation drills were carried out at Biomedicum. The drills were documented by Facility Management Biomedicum in order to analyze the organization's status, shortcomings, and needs.

What I most look forward to now, in the early days of the spring term, is the receding darkness and getting to meet all of you under various circumstances. Only last week, for instance, I and my colleagues in the university management had the privilege of meeting around fifty of our colleagues on Campus Flemingsberg in an open dialogue meeting, just like the one we held on the Solna campus just before Christmas.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped the genome of the Iberian ribbed newt and revealed how the composition and organization of the DNA are linked to its ability to regenerate entire body parts.

Thursday January 30th between 08:00 - 10:00 Akademiska Hus will disable a fire control system in the building, which will only affect the fire doors. This means that fire doors that are currently open (e.g., in stairwells) will be closed and cannot be propped open. Akademiska Hus cannot confirm if the entire building will be affected, but it is likely that only the D-building will be impacted.

Asthma biologics can be used during pregnancy to reduce the risk of complications associated with the disease.

The spring term of 2025 began with an orientation week, a welcome ceremony, and a mingling fair for around 400 new students in the occupational therapy, physiotherapy, medical, and nursing programmes.

Nomination deadline: March 11, 2025

Stockholm Trio (Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology & Stockholm University) and University College London (UCL) invite you to express interest in two days of workshops in London, the 8-9 April 2025.

Currently, the department to which one belongs is not visible on profile pages. Underlying divisions, research groups, and units are not affected.

The issue will be resolved on Thursday evening (30 Jan).

A new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Södersjukhuset shows that advanced ultrasound imaging analyses cannot identify patients who would benefit from beta-blocker treatment after a myocardial infarction. The study, published in the scientific journal European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging, is a follow-up to the previous REDUCE-AMI study.

A large proportion of babies born very early need intensive care, which can be painful. But the healthcare system fails to provide pain relief to the full extent. This is shown by the largest survey to date of pain in neonatal care, now published in the journal Pain.

Times Higher Education in the UK has published its World University Rankings by Subject 2025. The ranking is based on both hard data and reputation surveys. KI improves its position in several categories.

Nominate candidates for the Dimitris N. Chorafas prize for outstanding scientific work. You may nominate a recently graduated postdoc researcher or a doctoral student who plans to graduate in 2025.

We have room for three more participants on the doctoral course “3073 Philosophy of Science and the Concept of Health” (1.5 credits).

Professor Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam and her research group have been awarded a Proof of Concept grant by the European Research Council (ERC) to investigate how vaccines can be adapted to genetic variations in people around the world. Their research paves the way for more effective protection against disease on a global scale.

Francesco Innocenti is a senior biostatistician who recently joined ARC and will be working within Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga’s research group.

Eminent cancer researcher and Karolinska Institutet professor Eva Klein has passed away at the age of 99. She is survived by her and her late husband Georg Klein’s three children. Eva Klein won numerous prizes and awards over the years for her important discoveries in cancer research. She was elected onto the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1987.

As an employee at KI, you have the opportunity to take wellness hours and utilise wellness allowances and campus gyms - activities that contribute to a sustainable working life. Take advantage of the Health Hub's tips and services to break the sedentary lifestyle and get more physical activity into everyday life.

Felipe de Oliveira Galvão received the Sten Orrenius Prize 2024 for Best Publication in Toxicology.

In 2025, the Sjöberg Foundation will, as in previous years, provide grants for cancer research in the following research areas:

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have uncovered new insights into the mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study, recently published in Cell Reports, explores how changes in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in the brain contribute to the behavioural symptoms of autism.

The application process for the fourth KIPRIME Fellows Initiative is now open for participants from Karolinska Institutet and other Swedish universities. This unique initiative, co-financed by the Gunnar Höglund and Anna-Stina Malmborg Foundation and KI, aims to nourish the next generation of Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education winners by offering an inspirational curriculum of mentoring and development activities for outstanding midcareer medical education researchers.

When children with obesity undergo weight-loss treatment, the effects have repercussions later in life and the risk of serious health problems and premature death is lower as they reach young adulthood. However, this is not the case for depression and anxiety, a study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Pediatrics reports.

Autism affects 2-3% of U.S. children and there is no cure. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to its etiology. Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received an NIH grant of 2.5 million USD for the 5-year project "Autism in Preterm Birth".

The new education organisation launched on 18 June 2024 involved the creation of two new working groups, in addition to the Education Board (Utbildningsnämnden, UN). These two are the Steering Group for Teaching at FyFa (STUFF) and a Team for Undergraduate Education (Team GUA). Kent, what is the latest on Team GUA?

Researchers at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet have taken an important step toward understanding how microglia, the brain's immune cells, change with age and how these changes may contribute to age-related neurological diseases.

On Thursday, January 23, starting after 7 PM, an update will be made to ki.se, including staff.ki.se, news.ki.se, and education.ki.se. During the update, some downtime may occur, and it will not be possible to log in and work in the web publishing system.

The SciLifeLab bioinformatics platform (NBIS) arranges weekly drop-in sessions, open for anyone doing academic research with questions about bioinformatics.

With the new EU-funded grant, Sezgin team seeks to examine the virus-host interaction of Marburg virus (MARV) and establish a blueprint for the targeted development of antiviral strategies for newly emerging viruses.

Since 1987, researchers have followed thousands of older residents in Kungsholmen through the "Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen" (SNAC-K). The results show that today's 80-year-olds are healthier than previous generations, but health varies depending on where in the district they live.

On 20 January, a new group of participants gathered at Karolinska Institutet (KI) for the first lesson in a slightly different course. The participants are all potential future medical humanitarian aid workers and will be taking the course this spring. It will prepare them for future work in health crises, disasters and low-resource areas.

The geroscience hypothesis focuses on extending the healthy lifespan by targeting aging mechanisms. Recent advances in biomarkers for biological aging give rise to tools for measuring aging and assessing treatments. Alzheimer’s disease, a major health issue, may benefit from common drugs and early interventions.

The sun was shining over Aula Medica on 17 January when it was time for the formal graduation ceremonies for four of KI's educational programmes.

2024 marked the fifth anniversary of the University Alliance Stockholm Trio – a partnership between Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Stockholm University. To mark this milestone, Stockholm Trio has launched a new website where you can follow our work to strengthen collaboration between the universities.

Until July 2025, Annika Östman Wernerson, President of Karolinska Institutet, holds the chair of the University Alliance Stockholm Trio.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital in Sweden have determined how children’s immune systems react to different kinds of cancer depending on their age. The study, which is published in the journal Cell, reveals significant differences between the immune response of children and adults, and has the potential to lead to new tailored treatments for children with cancer.