News archive

Seven researchers at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics have been granted project funds from the Swedish Research Council. Together the department receives SEK 33.1 million.

Professors Lars Farde and Kjell Fuxe are awarded the Arvid Carlsson Foundation's Major Prize for Outstanding Research in the Spirit of Arvid Carlsson. The prizes consist of diplomas and research grants amounting to SEK 700,000.

Altered function of the red blood cells leads to vascular damage in type 2 diabetes. Results from a new study in cells from patients with type 2 diabetes and mice show that this effect is caused by low levels of an important molecule in the red blood cells. The study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has been published in the journal Diabetes.

The death of a child is an extremely stressful life event with potential long-term health consequences. The death of an offspring is associated with an increased risk of ischemic heart diseases in parents. This is according to a study at Karolinska Institutet, published in PLOS Medicine.

Congratulations to the researchers at the Department of Medicine in Huddinge who received funds of nearly 40MSEK from The Swedish Research Council (VR) 2021-2026.

Following a thorough investigation and the collation of an internal survey, the president of Karolinska Institutet (KI), Professor Ole Petter Ottersen, has today decided to change the names of one of the university’s halls, propose name changes for one building and two roads on Campus Solna, and amend the naming principles.

Konstantinos Meletis, Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, has been awarded a grant of approximately 1.73 million US dollars for three years from the Aligning Sciences Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, NPC, is a rare tumor of the head and neck, which originates in the nasopharynx at the very back of the nose. NPC has a particularly high incidence in southern China, Southeast Asia, and North and East Africa and is rare in the rest of the world. Little is known about its etiology but it is believed that genetic predisposition, environmental factors, and infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are involved.

Congratulations to the nine researchers at NVS who received funds from Swedish Research Council.

Congratulations to five researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery who received funding from the Swedish Research Council within the field Medicine and Health at the dividend on October 28, 2021.

On Thursday the 28th of October the Swedish Research Council announced this year's grant decision in the fields of medicine and health. The total amount of grants awarded is SEK 1,1 billion and KI's researchers are awarded SEK 500 900 000.

Seventy researchers at Karolinska Institutet received KID-funding in the 2021 call and eight of them are active researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, something that the Head of the Department sees as a much appreciated verification of the high quality of both the established and the new researchers at the department.

Kristina Haugaa is the new Professor of Cardiology at the Department of Medicine in Huddinge, since October 11. "I'm eager and thrilled to conduct cardiology research at Karolinska Institutet".

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet report that a recently discovered inflammatory mediator, interleukin-26, appears to have an important role in pneumonia and contribute to the killing of bacteria. The study is published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology - Microbial Immunology.

The 2021 Melvin R. Goodes Prize was awarded to Professor Kivipelto, who received the prize at the ADDF Annual Fall Symposium on Thursday, October 28th.

There is a global trend of population aging and Xia Li has studied the phenomena from a molecular epidemiological point of view, with a focus on biological aging. As the number of elderly increases worldwide, there is a need for better data on assessment and prediction of aging risks independent of chronological age. This kind of data is needed together with genetic assessments in order to allow the use of precision medicine.

The Swedish Research Council and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) has decided on the applications of individualised diagnostics and prevention to be awarded grants within the call Project grant for cross-disciplinary collaboration between China and Sweden. All projects are contucted at KI and by KI researchers.

Per Svenningsson has been awarded a grant of approximately 1.86 million US dollar for three years, from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative for an ambitious, multidisciplinary effort to study how abnormal protein aggregates may spread from the gut to the brain to drive the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. The total award is 8.9 million US dollar grant for three years.

Are you going to study abroad during the spring semester of 2022 and want a fun and paid extra job? We are now looking for students who want to blog about what it is like to study abroad and inspire others to do the same.

Should masks be worn or not? What’s the best way to relieve pain? New information is constantly emerging from research. But translating new scientific results into practical applications often takes a long time.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have analysed the presence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and memory cells of the immune system in young adults. The results, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, show that over one in four had antibodies due to the infection. Fewer of these individuals had measurable levels of memory B and T cells compared with other age groups. The researchers will now study long COVID in young adults and the effects of vaccination on immunity.

As many as six photovoltaic power installations have now been put into operation on campus Solna. The installations are located on the roofs of, among others, Widerströmska huset, A Working Lab Innomedicum and the Berzelius Laboratory. Together, the solar cells cover an area of approximately 2,100 square metres and provide the campus area with renewable energy.

Circular RNAs’ role in cancer initiation and progression has gain a lot of interest recently, but there is no clear picture regarding their functional importance. New findings by researchers at Karolinska Institutet suggest that despite the relative abundance and differential expression, a substantial number of circular RNAs may represent “passenger molecules” with little impact on a cell, reflecting a stochasticity of the gene expression and splicing processes.

Behavioral Informatics Team Leader Aleksandra Sjöström-Bujacz will be teaching a doctoral course on Multilevel Data Analysis in Spring 2022.

It’s described as a technological advance in computed tomography and the hope is that this imaging technique will eventually become hospital standard. At the end of October, a new type of CT scanner will be unveiled in MedTechLabs, an interdisciplinary centre set up by Karolinska Institutet (KI), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Region Stockholm. KI professor Staffan Holmin is one of the researchers behind the initiative.

Mariam Claeson is the senior project manager for the Political Economy of Adolescent Mental Health project at the Department of Global Public Health. After many years working abroad she is back at KI where her journey started as a medical student. She discusses progress in child health globally especially reduction in child mortality but is concerned about the major setbacks caused by the pandemic. Her focus now is on how to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents.

Muscle cells in patients with type 2 diabetes have a disrupted biological clock discover researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Karolinska Institutet. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, suggest that treatments for type 2 diabetes may be more or less effective depending on the time of day they are given.

Måns Magnusson at the research group Inborn Errors of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Deptartment of Molecular Medicine and Surgery will defend his thesis "Bioinformatic methods in rare disease" on October 22, 2021. Main Supervisor is Professor Anna Wedell.

The Medical Association has received a donation of SEK 15 million from The Hans and Barbara Bergstrom Foundation to refurbish the old student union building. The project has been ongoing for years with the aim of creating an inspiring environment for KI's students, doctoral students, researchers and alumni.

Antibodies in the airways quickly wane after SARS-CoV-2 infection, but vaccination results in a strong increase in antibody levels, especially after two doses, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal JCI Insight. The results suggest that having a second dose of vaccine also after recovering from COVID-19 may be important for protecting against re-infection and to prevent transmission.

Elin Larsson recieves 4 980 000 SEK in project grant for the project IMPROVE it: “IMplementing best practice postpartum contraceptive services through a quality imPROVEment initiative for and with immigrant women in Sweden”.

Congratulations to Claudia Hanson who has been appointed to the WHO TAG Maternal mortality estimations group.

Implementation of WHO’s recommended public health policies on alcohol, unhealthy foods and tobacco has been slow globally, according to a study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, published in the journal The Lancet Global Health. The study found particularly low implementation in poor, less democratic countries and where corporations had more influence for example through corruption and political favoritism.

Congratulations to Emilie Agardh who receives 4 920 000 SEK in project grant from Forte for the project A new approach to capture inequalities in health.

The Erling Persson Family Foundation has awarded Johan Lundin a research grant of 10 million SEK divided over three years for the project Artificial intelligence for diagnostics of cancer and infectious diseases in resource-limited settings - the MoMic Project. Johan has just returned from Kenya, where he has been planning the next steps of the project.

Karolinska Institutet and long-standing partner, Makerere University, have intensified their joint efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda. In partnership with several academic institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as with Tinkr, a company specializing in innovation, they have co-created and started delivering on capacity building projects for health professionals to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

Research on the role of diet in the development of type 1 diabetes is generally of low evidence, but there are some high-quality studies indicating that longer breastfeeding and later introduction to gluten may reduce the risk of disease. That is according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of available research on foods that may be linked to the risk of developing the type 1 diabetes in childhood. The study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet is published in the journal EBioMedicine.

The early development of the immune system, antibiotics in dentistry and strengthened medical pedagogy. These are some of the research areas that Karolinska Institutet's new professors are interested in. On 14 October 2021, the annual inauguration ceremony was held in Aula Medica where 18 new professors were installed, and 12 adjunct professors and 2 visiting professors were welcomed to their new positions at the university.

Paul Ackermann is researching why problems often arise in the healing-process in tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissue in the locomotor system. His work can give rise to new therapies designed to help the injury to heal properly and prevent chronic pain and blood clots.

Less exercise and less rehab are the experiences reported by persons with Parkinson’s disease in a new study from Karolinska Institutet. The study sheds light on the situation during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Erika Franzén, professor and physiotherapist, especially women over 70 can be viewed as a risk group for reduced physical activity.

Statins are a recommended and common intervention for preventing cardiovascular events by reducing levels of lipoprotein cholesterol in the blood. During the pandemic, it has been debated whether statins influence the risk of death from COVID-19. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now conducted the largest population study to date in the field. The study, which is published in PLOS Medicine, indicates that statin treatment slightly lowers COVID-19 mortality.

Researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital have developed a new kind of antibiotic-free protection for wounds that kills drug-resistant bacteria and induces the body’s own immune responses to fight infections. The technology is presented in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and could be an important tool in the fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria.

It remains a central challenge in psychiatry to reliably judge whether a patient will respond to treatment. In a new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany show that moment-to-moment fluctuations in brain activity can reliably predict whether patients with social anxiety disorder will be receptive to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

The ability to detect and react to the smell of a potential threat is a precondition of our and other mammals’ survival. Using a novel technique, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been able to study what happens in the brain when the central nervous system judges a smell to represent danger. The study, which is published in PNAS, indicates that negative smells associated with unpleasantness or unease are processed earlier than positive smells and trigger a physical avoidance response.

Researchers at the Aging Research Center (ARC) have been awarded several substantial grants from Forte's annual open call for proposals. Out of the 32 projects, programmes and networks that received funding at KI, five were awarded to ARC. The aim is to analyse enabling and contributing to an in-depth knowledge in research areas or issues.

Petter Brodin is a paediatrician and is researching the early deve- lopment of the immune system. His research can contribute to the development of new and more effective treatments, including for the prevention of autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergies.

Torkel Brismar researches how X-ray and other medical images can be translated into quantitative data for use in the assessment of diseases such as cancer and osteoporosis as an aid for doctors in their decision-making.

With a tight student budget, buying course literature can feel tough. The student association STRÄVA works, among other things, to ensure that everyone has access to course literature, and they are involved in the project KI students' book donation.

Marie Klingberg Allvin’s work involves strengthening midwifery, often in low-resource countries, in order to give women access to better healthcare. She believes in the integration of research and education – something that is also included in her new professorship.

Lymphoma is a common cancer that exists in many forms. Karin Ekström Smedby is mapping the epidemiology of the disease, from risk factors to survival. She is also researching new biomarkers that can lead to more efficacious treatment.