News archive

A single dose of the psychedelic substance psilocybin can provide rapid relief from depressive symptoms – within just a few days. This is shown by the first randomised, double-blind study in Sweden of psilocybin for depression. The effect persisted for over three months, according to researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

How can artificial intelligence help researchers understand complex disease processes and identify previously hidden patterns? That was the focus when Fang Fang, professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, was interviewed for the internationally renowned medical journal JAMA’s podcast series JAMA+ AI Conversations.

Leading international researchers in immunology, antibody biology, and therapeutic engineering will gather at the Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet on 4-5 June 2026, for Nobel mini-symposium No. 63, "Advances in Antibody Diversification and Engineering: Mechanisms, Technologies, and Therapeutic Potential".

During a few intensive days in May 2026, Karolinska Institutet’s Flemingsberg campus served as a hub for knowledge exchange and experience sharing on personality disorders, bringing together more than 300 clinicians and researchers. The week began with the international conference on Good Psychiatric Management (GPM), held on 4–5 May, and continued with the Swedish Congress on Personality Psychiatry on 6–7 May.

The survival rates of patients with oesophageal and gastric cancers have improved. However, many survivors continue to experience long- term symptoms. On May 29, Kenneth Färnqvist will defend his thesis "The architecture of survivorship : patterns of quality of life, symptom dynamics, and self- care in oesophageal and gastric cancer" in which he has investigated how quality of life, symptoms, and self-care develop over time.

People with post-COVID conditions may experience persistent impairments in physical and mental health long after the infection. A new doctoral dissertation at Karolinska Institutet follows developments over time and examines whether individually tailored rehabilitation can support recovery.

The Swedish government has decided to introduce changes to the current migration legislation that will affect students holding a residence permit for studies. These changes are scheduled to take effect on 11 June 2026.

Karolinska Institutet and the Institute of Applied Biosciences (INAB) at the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Thessaloniki, Greece, have signed a formal agreement to strengthen and expand their academic cooperation in research, education, and innovation.

Congratulations to Anna Martling and Richard Rosenquist Brandell, who have both been elected as Faculty Representatives of the Faculty Board. The term of office runs from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2029.

The committee for higher education has decided to award Nicola Orsini and Karin Garming Legert KI's Pedagogical Prize in 2026.
The prize is awarded during the inauguration ceremony in Aula Medica in October.

Artificial intelligence could, in the long term, improve the care of patients in need of organ transplantation but only if the technology is used responsibly. In a new guidance article published in the journal Transplant International, the European Society for Organ Transplantation presents recommendations on how AI should be developed and implemented. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have contributed to the work.

Karolinska Institutet has received a grant of DKK 10 million (approximately SEK 15 million) from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for research on cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease. The project is led by Johan Ericson, professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and aims to help move laboratory research closer to clinical application.

The Swedish Developmental Biology Organization (SWEDBO) has awarded Sandra de Haan at Karolinska Institutet its prize for the best doctoral thesis. The thesis focuses on how the inner ear develops and provides new knowledge about how cells in the cochlea are organised.

Thanks to the prestigious prevention grant from the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation, he will now evaluate whether digital physiotherapy delivered via an app can promote physical activity and reduce the risk of recurrent stroke.

The KI Housing office will be closed on May 14 and May 15.

Associate Professor Sara Hägg from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics has been elected to join the Academy of Geroscience.

Researcher and concert pianist Fredrik Ullén is launching a research project exploring how the interplay between heredity and environment influences musical performance. The project is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute and is made possible by a generous donation from the philanthropist Marcus Storch.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in economics, Philip Lindersten realised he was more interested in people than in markets. Today, he is studying on the psychology programme at KI, where the encounter between research and real-life experiences became decisive for his choice.

Chronic immune diseases are shaped by multiple inflammatory processes happening at the same time, each in different parts of the tissue. This is shown in a mouse study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Immunity. The findings may help explain why patients respond differently to treatment.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have successfully treated children aged 1–3 years with peanut allergies. The children slowly became accustomed to eating peanuts by consuming small amounts of them daily, which were gradually increased over time. The results are presented in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

A key international handbook on how to improve care for older people is now available in Swedish. The document, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), focuses on person-centred care in primary healthcare and has been carefully translated with help from experts at Karolinska Institutet and partner organisations.

Severe bleeding after trauma can rapidly become life-threatening. In a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, Marcus Wannberg examines how the body's coagulation system begins to fail early after injury, which injuries most often lead to fatal bleeding, and how high-risk injuries can be identified.

An abstract from Karolinska Institutet has been selected as one of the top ten at the European Renal Association (ERA) Congress 2026 in Glasgow, from among 3,172 submitted entries. The study highlights how even small variations within the normal range of albuminuria are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Karolinska Institutet has now launched the first version of its own journal list, KI-JL, in which scientific journals are level-graded based on peer review. The list is intended to support researchers in decisions about publishing and journal quality and will be used in the university’s resource allocation.

Laura Fratiglioni, senior professor at NVS, was awarded the honor of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy at a symposium on healthy aging at the Italian Embassy on April 28. She received the honor in recognition of her groundbreaking research in aging.

A new research project at Karolinska Instutet has been awarded a five-year grant from FORMAS, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, to study how long-term exposure to air pollution and transport noise may influence the risk of developing dementia, using large population-based data from Sweden.

Each March, the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS) welcomes students from Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) for a two-week academic exchange. This year, we hosted eight second-year students from four-year programmes: three from occupational therapy, one from physiotherapy, one from radiology, and three from nursing.

The occurrence of microscopic colitis in Sweden has risen steadily over the past decades, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The findings show that the disease is more common than previously recognised and affects mainly older adults, especially women.

Elli Mouchtaridi from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), defends her thesis titled "Adaptation of human MAIT cells to tissue site and cytokine cues in the microenvironment", on 8 May 2026. Main supervisor is Johan Sandberg.

For a week, a conference room at the old Långholmen prison in Stockholm and the lawn outside were transformed into the fictional country of Marconia, when Sweden’s new emergency medical team initative met to conduct a training exercise. The week-long exercise was planned and carried out by the research group Global Disaster Medicine Karolinska Institutet (KI), which is a designated centre of expertise in the field by the National Board of Health and Welfare.

Treating pregnancy-related iron deficiency anaemia with a one-time iron infusion provides better health outcomes and greater value than standard iron tablets, according to a new study published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health. The findings may help guide healthcare decisions in low-resource settings.

A health impact assessment from the Institute of Environmental Medicine shows that proposed changes to Sweden’s traffic noise regulations could lead to adverse health effects. The proposal, developed by the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, includes removing the requirement for a quiet side in noise-exposed dwellings.

People with severe asthma have nearly twice the risk of dying prematurely compared to other asthma patients. This is shown in a new study published in the European Respiratory Journal.

This year, the Swedish Rheumatism Association is awarding almost SEK 14 million in funding for research into rheumatic diseases. One third of the funded projects are being carried out at Karolinska Institutet.

An enzyme in the liver may partly explain sex differences in the body’s handling of cholesterol and the risk of developing atherosclerosis. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Nature Communications, based on experiments conducted in mice and human liver cells.

Small abnormalities in blood sugar, blood lipids and inflammation several years before pregnancy are linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure during pregnancy and pre-eclampsia, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Network Open. The findings may contribute to earlier risk assessment and preventive measures in antenatal care.

Low doses of the investigational medicinal product endoxifen reduce breast density to the same extent as the standard treatment tamoxifen, but without causing such troublesome side effects. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The results may have implications for future preventive treatment of breast cancer.

Stefanie Renken from Vecura presented her talk, “Clinical Manufacturing of Gene-Modified NK Cells for Allogeneic Therapy,” at a full day conference organized by Flemingsberg Science in Campus Huddinge.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute and Emory University, have developed a new vaccine strategy that has generated antibodies capable of neutralising highly divergent HIV variants. The study, published in the journal Nature, provides new insights into how the immune system can be guided towards a particularly protected part of the virus.

A genetic alteration that is already routinely analysed in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia can be used to identify patients who respond to a new targeted therapy, according to a study published in the journal Discover Oncology.

“What We Saw in Gaza” was the title of a seminar organised on 21 April by the Centre for Health Crises and the research group Global Disaster Medicine – Health Needs and Response. Researchers and healthcare professionals who had recently been working in humanitarian healthcare in Gaza, shared their experiences and answered the many questions posed by the engaged audience. The closing words – never to accept that a situation like this becomes normalised – echoed through the hall.

Healthcare professionals, artists, and cultural experts from across the Nordic and Baltic regions gathered in Stockholm on April 20–21 2026, for the second Nordic–Baltic seminar on art in hospital environments. Hosted at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, the event focused on how art can enhance well-being for patients, families, and healthcare staff.

Every year, the Bengt Fridlund Prize is awarded to an individual who has made a significant scientific contribution in the field of cardiovascular medicine. This year’s recipient of the prize is Andreas Claesson, who works at the Department of Clinical Science and Education at Södersjukhuset.

A new research project at Karolinska Institutet will examine whether digital interventions can help parents manage anger in everyday life and thereby prevent negative consequences for children.

The Autism Research Network at Karolinska Institutet (AutNetKI) warmly congratulates our member Miriam Martini on receiving an award from the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) for her doctoral thesis.

The KI Housing office will be closed on the 1st of May.

KI researcher Mai‑Lis Hellenius has been named the winner in the Health category of the Most Promising Over 60 award 2026. She receives the award in recognition of her long‑standing and dedicated work to make research on lifestyle and health understandable, relevant, and accessible to a broad audience.

Forte has announced long-term funding for two national research centres aimed at strengthening knowledge on care and support for people living with dementia. One of the centres, Tracedem – KI Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care, has been operating at Karolinska Institutet since January 2026.

The sun glittered over Stockholm City Hall and the waters of Lake Mälaren as 143 doctoral graduates and two honorary doctors were conferred in the Blue Hall on Friday 24 April. During the ceremony, they received their hats and were celebrated with strings, singing and a cannon salute, before the festivities continued with a banquet in the Golden Hall.

Laura Bub from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), defends her thesis titled "Regulation of lung macrophage differentiation and function by cholesterol metabolites", on 29 April 2026. Main supervisor is Tim Willinger.