News archive

Medicinska Föreningen and Odontologiska Föreningen are Karolinska Institutet's two student unions that work with educational issues and for an active student life for KI students. Every year, the student unions appoint new presidents. For 2021, we wish Alexander Klaréus welcome as new president for Medicinska Föreningen and Dana Samiean as new president for Odontologiska Föreningen. Get to know them and what they want to work for during the upcoming year.

Martin Engvall at the research group Inborn errors of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Identification of disease genes in rare neurological conditions" on January 22nd, 2021. Main Supervisor is Anna Wedell.

According to a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, misinformation about infectious diseases can be debunked most effectively by first stating the false information and then correcting it with the correct information. All studies in the thesis about risk communication and misinformation in infectious disease outbreaks were conducted in Sierra Leone, focusing on Ebola, Typhoid and Malaria.

The Charlson co-morbidity index (CCI) is a disease index that was originally created to predict short-term mortality but is increasingly used as a proxy for comorbidity burden, and is often used as a co-variate, for instance in regression models. There are currently several available versions of the CCI. The existence of multiple morbidity indices creates confusion, increases the risk of mistakes and requires individual researchers to spend considerable time examining included codes.

The ability of our skin to protect us from chemicals is something we inherit. Some people are less well-protected which could imply an increased risk of being afflicted by skin disease or cancer. A new study from Karolinska Institutet that has been published in Environmental Health Perspectives shows how the rate of uptake of common chemicals is faster in people with a genetically weakened skin barrier.

A week before Christmas Eve, the Government presented the so-called Research Policy Bill, the document that points out the direction and the priorities of research over the next four years. “The Bill is in line with KI's strategy,” says Vice-Chancellor Ole Petter Ottesen.

In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have used a urine test to identify and verify a patient’s type of asthma. The study, which has been published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, lays the foundation for a more personalized diagnosis and may result in improved treatment of severe asthma in the future.

Hi Juraj Sečník, PhD student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics! On January 29 you will defend your thesis “Diabetes mellitus in patients with dementia : clinical care and pharmacological treatment”. What’s the main focus of the thesis?

What are the microbial triggers of peri-implantitis? George Belibasakis and Daniel Manoil from Karolinska Institutet tackled the question in a recent review.

Congratulations to Peter Zaphiropoulos, at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, who received 1 million SEK in project grants from the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation 2020 for a project on Circular RNA in medulloblastoma.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed, in collaboration with researchers in Germany and the U.S., new small antibodies, also known as nanobodies, which prevent the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from entering human cells. The research study, published in Science, shows that a combined nanobody had a particularly good effect – even if the virus mutated. According to the researchers, the nanobodies have the potential to be developed into a treatment for COVID-19.

KI researcher Professor Lars Terenius, in collaboration with two US groups, has been awarded a 5-year Prime Project Grant of 2.8 million US dollars from The National Institutes of Health, USA, to study how selected drugs affect the dynamics of opioid systems in Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD).

A new study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University reveals that children with cerebral palsy in rural Uganda have 25 times higher risk of premature death. The main causes of death were malaria and anemia. The study is to this date the largest study conducted on cerebral palsy in Africa and was published in PLoS One.

In countries with a severe shortage of surgeons it is common for some operations to be carried out by medical staff with lower formal qualifications. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have led an international study on the safety and efficacy of a common surgical procedure. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, shows that inguinal hernia operations performed by associate clinicians at a hospital in Sierra Leone were just as safe and effective as those performed by doctors.

The Swedish Cancer Society has awarded the prestigious title Cancer Researcher of the Year 2021 to Anna Martling, professor of surgery at Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant colorectal surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital, as well as dean of KI Nord.

Stem cell research is the prerequisite for regenerative medicine, which with the help of the body's cells recreates and heals important organs. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet, SickKids in Canada and KU Leuven in Belgium have found a method for defining the most general type of stem cells, that can develop into all cell types in the body. The study of totipotent stem cells in mice has been published in Nature Cell Biology.

Episode #58 of Medicinvetarna, a podcast on Karolinska Institutet’s research, is mainly about ADHD. Another question raised in the episode is what a thought really is.

Martin Slettengren at the research group Thoracic Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Evaluation of an automatic urinometer including use of silicone oil to decrease biofilm formation due to proteinuria, hemoglobinuria and bacterial growth" on January 14, 2021. Main Supervisor is Jan van der Linden.

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund’s largest research grant of the year has been awarded. A total of SEK 146 million will be distributed, a new record in the fight against childhood cancer. SEK 51.6 million of this will go towards research at Karolinska Institutet.

One woman in eight develops breast cancer during her lifetime in the Western world and although mammography screening reduces mortality by early detection, approximately one fourth of the women who develop breast cancer are diagnosed within two years after a negative screen.

KI-researcher Georgios Sotiriou has been awarded the European Research Council Proof of Concept Grant (ERC PoC) 2020. The grant is worth up to 150.000 Euro for a period of 18 months.

So far, little research has been done on the risk of children being seriously affected by COVID-19 when the schools were open. A study from Karolinska Institutet has now shown that one child in 130,000 was treated in an intensive care unit on account of COVID-19 during the period March-June. The work has been published as a letter to the editor in New England Journal of Medicine.

People who consume high levels of vitamin C and E in their diet may have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease than people who get only small amounts of these nutrients, according to a new study from University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, and Karolinska Institutet. The study was published in Neurology.

Hi there Maria Fjell, researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet who recently defended her thesis “Supportive care for patients with breast cancer by using an interactive app during neoadjuvant chemotherapy – a Randomized Controlled Trial”. What’s the main focus of the thesis?

Mikael Tiger, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet has won his dispute with the Swedish Medical Products Agency over a fee exemption for a clinical trial. This follows an appeal lodged with the Supreme Administrative Court.

The Unit for Teaching and Learning (TL) has been commissioned to lead the project to develop an educational plan for KI. Carl Savage and Teresa Sörö are part of the project team that is currently formulating a joint starting point on learning at KI.

In some cases, immune cells in the lungs can contribute to worsening a virus attack. In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how different kinds of immune cells, called macrophages, develop in the lungs and which of them may be behind severe lung diseases. The study, which was published in Immunity, may contribute to future treatments for COVID-19, among other diseases.

Study shows that the legalization of abortion in Mexico City shows how access to legal and safe abortion reduces abortion-related morbidity such as bleeding.

Per Nilsson has been appointed deputy head of the Divison of Neurogeriatrics, NVS, starting December 1, 2020.

Margarita Mondaca at the Division of Occupational Therapy has been appointed deputy Programme Director (PD) for the Occupational Therapy Study Programme.

Small studies have suggested that a group of medications called RAS inhibitors may be harmful in persons with advanced chronic kidney disease, and physicians therefore often stop the treatment in such patients. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that although stopping the treatment is linked to a lower risk of requiring dialysis, it is also linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular events and death. The results are published in The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Hi Una Smailovic, PhD student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics! On January 15 you will defend your thesis “Multimodal phenotyping of synaptic damage in Alzheimer’s disease : translational perspective with focus on quantitative EEG”. What’s the main focus of the thesis?

How the immune system adapts to pregnancies has puzzled scientists for decades. Now, findings from an international group of researchers, led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, reveal important changes that occur in the thymus to prevent miscarriages and gestational diabetes. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Marie Holmqvist, associate professor at the Clinical Epidemiology Division at the Department of Medicine Solna, are one of two who has been appointed Wallenberg Clinical Fellows 2020 award for her research project “Cancer in systemic rheumatic disease – occurrence, genetics, prediction and consequences”. The project studies why cancer is more common in patients with systemic rheumatic diseases and how we can predict which patients will develop cancer earlier, so we can intervene.

During the spring pandemic, the higher education sector, including Karolinska Institutet, received a temporary permit from the government to analyse covid-19 tests in connection with the increase in the spread of the infection. The number of analyses carried out increased rapidly, but now other operators have started up, which means that KI can go back to its regular laboratory activities. KI however still remains in a state of a preparedness to reorganize its operations should the need arise.

Two researchers at KI have been granted funding from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg foundation with about 6 million SEK. The Foundation supports research in Social Sciences.

Associate professor and Research Group Leader Qiaolin Deng, at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, received up to 1.2 million SEK per year over five years (KI consolidator grant) and 2 million SEK per year over six years (VR consolidator grant).

Hi Sebastian Lindblom, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy! On January 8 you will defend your thesis “Understanding the links : the exploration of care transitions between hospital and continued rehabilitation in the home after stroke”. What’s the main focus of the thesis?

MTC awards 2020, is presented to the following recipients from the Head of Department Susanne Nylén.

For the first time, a new study shows that treatment with a progesterone receptor modulator is effective for treatment of typical symptoms such as irritability and depression in women suffering from PMDS. The study, which was conducted at Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University, has been published in the medical journal American Journal of Psychiatry.

Rodrigo Fernandez Gonzalo at the Division of Clinical Physiology has received an exciting funding of 4,5 MSEK from the Swedish National Space Agency for his project investigating the mechanisms behind the changes in the skeletal muscle and the immune system induced by the lack of gravity.

Sophia Ceder and Klas Wiman and their colleagues at Department of Oncology-Pathology have together with researchers from Peter MacCallum Cancer Center, University of Melbourne, University of Cambridge and Aprea Therapeutics published a study in EMBO Molecular Medicine that provides novel understanding on the mechanisms of mutant p53 targeting compound APR-246.

Hi Sophie Gaber, PhD student at the Division of Occupational Therapy! On January 22 you will defend your thesis “The participation of older people with and without dementia in public space, through the lens of Everyday Technology use”. What’s the main focus of the thesis?

We wish to congratulate Victoria Menéndez-Benito at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, who has been awarded a two-year Strategic Mobility Grant from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF). This grant aims to increase personal mobility, knowledge transfer, and cross-fertilization between academia and industry.

Three researchers from Karolinska Institutet have been awarded grants from the Sjöberg Foundation, in total a sum of SEK 12 million. The foundation supports research with a focus on cancer, health and the environment.

Individuals with high ADHD-traits that do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis are less able to perform tasks involving attentional regulation or emotional control after a sleepless night than individuals with low ADHD-traits, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging reports.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet report in the journal Nature that they have developed novel first-in-class inhibitors that compromise mitochondrial function in cancer cells. Treatment with the inhibitors stopped cancer cells from proliferating and reduced tumour growth in mice, without significantly affecting healthy cells.

As life expectancies rise, so does the risk of dementia. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now studied how an active, non-smoking lifestyle can influence this correlation. The results, which are published in PLOS Medicine, suggest that good cardiovascular health gradually decreases the risk of dementia.

In the search for new ways to treat the incurable eye disease glaucoma, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and St. Erik Eye Hospital have discovered more clues as to its pathogenesis. A new study shows how metabolic disturbance of the neurons coincide with raised pressure in the eye. In animal and cell models, rapamycin and pyruvate treatments were shown to have a protective effect. The study is published in the journal PNAS.

With the help of algorithms, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified markers that can differentiate between irritant eczema and contact allergy, two skin reactions that look similar but require different treatment. Their findings, which are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), support the further development of an alternative to today’s diagnostic patch tests.