News archive

On 7 and 8 June 2022, researchers from all over Europe, Israel, the United States and Canada gathered at Karolinska Institutet to discuss the research and latest developments in the I-CARE4OLD project, an EU-funded project launched in 2021.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show how a molecule that they have identified stimulates the formation of new insulin-producing cells in zebrafish and mammalian tissue, through a newly described mechanism for regulating protein synthesis. The results are published in Nature Chemical Biology.

A study from Karolinska Institutet sheds new light on the question of whether the sex and previous pregnancy of blood donors affects survival in patients who receive red blood cell transfusions. According to the study, which is published in JAMA Internal Medicine, neither of these factors has such an effect, after accounting for the lower haemoglobin levels in blood from women.

In the spring of 2022, the network Senior Faculty at KI conducted a survey on the activities of KI professors born in or before 1953. The results show that the professors are still heavily engaged in research and bring close to SEK 300 million a year into the university.  

Antibiotic resistance is sometimes referred to as the silent pandemic – a contagion that spreads without us really knowing its extent or severity. But research is in progress to find new ways of fighting bacteria. And as with COVID-19, everyone can help to reduce the spread – and save lives.

Broad-spectrum antibiotics are overused in dentistry because many patients mistakenly believe they have a penicillin allergy. But such allergies are rare and should be investigated by a doctor, says Bodil Lund, chair of the Tandvårds-Strama network, which supports rational antibiotic therapy in dentistry.

KI alumni Malin Grape has been appointed by the government as AMR ambassador. But what does that mean?

Pernilla Rönnholm lost her daughter because of antibiotic resistant intestinal bacteria. Now she works for preventing more children to being affected.

New findings reveal an advanced, unexpected two-way communication between the function and organization of chromosomes in the cell nucleus. Previous research shows that the organization of chromosomal DNA into loops regulates gene reading (transcription) and chromosome copying (replication). The new results show that, in turn, transcription and replication control chromosome looping, thus revealing a new interplay known to be important in avoiding diseases, such as cancer.

Measuring the full complement of small molecules (the metabolome) can provide important insight into the health status of an individual. The measurement of metabolites is also the main theme of the recently established KI core facility for small molecule mass spectrometry (KI-SMMS). We talk with Craig Wheelock, Head of the newly founded Unit of Integrative Metabolomics in the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), about the role of metabolomics in personalized health care.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden might have found an explanation for why people with self-injury behaviour generally feel less pain than others. The key seems to be a more effective pain-modulation system, a discovery that can benefit people seeking help for their self-harm. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

End-stage liver disease (ESLD), including advanced liver cirrhosis and primary liver cancer, is the final stage of long-standing injury to the liver due to risk factors such as chronic viral hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease. There is a high disease burden and mortality globally, especially in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries such as Ghana, where the primary cause of HCC and cirrhosis is infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV).

Christina Opava, professor emerita at the Division of Physiotherapy is awarded the EULAR Health Professionals in Rheumatology Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 for her work within rheumatology.

Using advanced microscopy techniques, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have visualized in unprecedented detail the machinery that the cells’ powerhouses, the mitochondria, use to form their proteins. The results, which are published in Nature, raise hopes of more specific antibiotics and new cancer drugs in the future.

IMM Unit of Occupational Medicine has been awarded a European grant to investigate the work environment of gig-workers (GIG-OSH). In total KI and it’s partners have been awarded 1,65 MEUR over three years.

The project was presented at the conference in Lyon, in May 2022.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed a tiny sensor for detecting pesticides on fruit in just a few minutes. The technique, described as a proof-of-concept in a paper in the journal Advanced Science, uses flame-sprayed nanoparticles made from silver to increase the signal of chemicals. While still at an early stage, the researchers hope these nano-sensors could help uncover food pesticides before consumption.

The majority of cold wave related deaths occurred in middle-income countries followed by high-income countries, deaths were likely to occur during heat waves than cold waves or severe winter weather, in particularly in high-income countries and increased CO2 emissions can result in an increased number of deaths during severe weather events. That is the conclusion of a recently published study that looked at extreme weather events and deaths in the years 1999 to 2018.

The repurposing of FDA-approved drugs for alternative diseases is a faster way of bringing new treatments into the clinic. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have repurposed a cancer drug for treatment of neuroinflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis. A novel drug carrier was also developed to facilitate drug delivery to target myeloid cells. These pre-clinical findings are described in a paper in the journal EMBO Reports.

A new study published in Cell shows that a non-coding RNA molecule regulates mitochondrial gene expression in human cells. The work results from a collaboration between the Sahlgrenska Academy, Karolinska Institutet and the University of Cologne.

Mechanisms associated with a particular diabetes drug can also help to protect against Alzheimer’s disease, a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in Neurology reports. The results indicate that the drug’s target protein can be an interesting candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a collaboration between researchers from AstraZeneca and Karolinska Institutet a study about potential new treatments for heart failure is now published in Nature Communications.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are introducing a new gold standard quality-control tool for counting of mRNA molecules in single cell sequencing. The new method is described in a new publication in the journal Nature Methods.

In a new study in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea have shown how short-term expression of gene editing tools can be used to repair the mutation that causes progeria.

Björn Meister at the Department of Neuroscience is awarded the 2022 prize for his long-standing commitment to teaching at several of Karolinska Institutet's educational programmes.

Christine Reus at the research group Urology, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Rethinking the artificial urinary sphincter : from current knowledge to the development of a new smart device" on June 3, 2022. Main Supervisor is Pierre Mozer.

About half of the Swedish population feels a strong climate worry. This is normal because the climate threat is real, says researcher Fabian Lenhard, who is starting a study on climate change. The research project will be attempting to channel worry about climate change into sustainable development.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a new vaccine candidate against pneumococci, bacteria that can cause pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis. The vaccine molecules comprise nano-sized membrane vesicles produced by the bacteria and provide protection in mice, a new study published in PNAS reports.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet identify an epigenetic regulator controlling the very first cell type specification in the human embryo. The study is published in Nature Cell Biology.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed an improved single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) method to further enhance the ability to map cell types and genetic programs in health and disease. According to the researchers, the method, described in a paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology, offers a more affordable alternative to studying individual cells than current protocols without compromising data quality.

Bringing together expertise, offering attractive training and providing a hub for collaboration. This is the vision for the Stockholm Trio for Sustainable Actions - a new initiative from Karolinska Institutet, KTH and Stockholm University to further contribute to sustainable societal development.

Some 35 years ago Professor Göran K Hansson, his then graduate student Lena Jonasson, and colleagues discovered the presence of T lymphocytes in human atherosclerotic plaques. Their foundational observation set the stage for over three decades of sustained exploration of immunity and inflammation in atherosclerosis. This field has burgeoned, matured, and has reached the stage of clinical translation.

The nervous system is known to communicate with the immune system and regulate inflammation in the body. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show how electrical activation of a specific nerve can promote healing in acute inflammation. The finding, which is published in the journal PNAS, opens new ways to accelerate resolution of inflammation.

5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs), Finasteride and Dutasteride, are commonly used to treat lower urinary symptoms in older men with benign prostate hyperplasia. There has long been concern that these drugs may increase the risk of more aggressive forms of prostate cancer. In a new study recently published in JAMA Oncology, researchers at Karolinska Institutet found no increased risk of dying from prostate cancer for men treated with the drugs and lower risk with longer treatment duration.

What is your favourite memory from your time at KI? What are your plans after graduation? At KI more than a thousand students will be graduating this summer. We asked some of them to share their memories from their time as students and plans after graduation.

Friday May 20, doctoral student Daniel Helldén had his halftime seminar at the Department of Global Public Health. Using a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Synergies Approach and interviews with stakeholders, Daniel aims to investigate the views and perceptions on the linkages between SDGs, different sectors and child health in Cambodia. Through machine learning, he also investigates non-health risk factors of morbidity from infectious diseases.

KI participates in Stockholm's Pride Parade on Saturday 6 August. Together with the Student Associations Medicinska Föreningen and Odontologiska Föreningen and a number of other universities in the Stockholm area, KI participates under the slogan Academic Pride. KI is now looking for two students who want to work during the day and support our participation in the parade.

A mobile app that shows a child's weight development in real-time for children with obesity provides greater weight loss compared to conventional care. The fact that both families and healthcare professionals can follow the same data facilitates individualised extra support when needed. This is shown by a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the International Journal of Obesity.

Researchers at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet are one step closer to explaining why COVID-19 patients have a substantially increased risk of blood clots. The study, published in Nature Immunology, shows that a gene variant in the innate immune system influences the risk for blood clots in the lungs of severely ill COVID-19 patients.

Partnership and cooperation are necessary to accelerate the work to achieve the global goals – and this is where academia plays an important role. This emerged during the seminar "New Partnerships for Human and Planetary Health" arranged by Karolinska Institutet, KTH and Stockholm University in May.

The Every Breath Counts Coalition Research Group is launching a PhD and early career researcher network to support emerging researchers working across any discipline in the area of pneumonia. The purpose is to promote networking and publish a monthly blog where early career researchers, and new research in the field are highlighted.

The Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters has had three articles published so far during the month of May. One covers the development of quality assurance tools for ICUs in Lebanon, whilst the other looks at the experiences of moral challenges among disaster health care responders, and the consequences thereof. The third reviews autotransfusion in low income areas.

A new study from the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet characterises a novel neuronal population in the basal ganglia, responsible for the interaction between two types of neurotransmitters, GABA and acetylcholine. The study was recently published in Cell Reports.

When others run away from bad things, Johan von Schreeb can be found dashing towards them. He has a wealth of experience in bringing order to chaotic situations – but as an administrator, he’s a complete disaster. Meet the professor who wants to control the health crises of the future.

Microscopic colitis is the most recently recognized inflammatory condition of the large intestine in which abnormal reactions of the immune system cause inflammation of the inner lining of the colon. At present, more than 10,000 people in Sweden are estimated to be living with the disease. Previously, insufficient awareness and knowledge of microscopic colitis have led to underdiagnosis of the disorder, leaving patients untreated.

Several high-profile cases of intimidation, harassment and imprisoned researchers demonstrate that academic freedom is under considerable pressure. In May 2022, KI highlighted the situation during the seminar "Academic freedom and international collaboration in a turbulent world."

Congratulations to researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, who have received grants from "Henning och Johan Throne-Holst stiftelse" 2022.

For the first time, Swedish higher education institutions have conducted a joint national survey on the prevalence of gender-based and sexual harassment in the academic sector. The responses from a total of almost 39,000 employees and students show that young people, women and students (including doctoral students) are particularly at risk.

Now that the application and nomination deadlines have passed, the recruitment process for KI president has moved on to the interview stage.

On April 21, the 2nd Swedish Meeting for Alzheimer's Research was organized in Aula Medica by the Center for Alzheimer Research at NVS. In total, around 450 attendees participated, of which about 300 were researchers.