News archive

Last Friday, 150 new KI doctors and two honorary doctors were presented with their academic awards at a formal ceremony in Stockholm City Hall. The evening was one of stirring entertainment, academic tradition – and an academic vice president in a Barbra Streisand wig.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet may have found a new way to treat obesity and related disorders by targeting the cells’ powerhouses, the mitochondria. A study published in Nature Metabolism shows that a specific class of drugs that block mitochondrial function can reverse diet-induced obesity, fatty liver and diabetes in mice.

The Internationalisation Board has set aside SEK 200,000 for activities or projects that promote internationalisation at home for education at the undergraduate and advanced level.

We are looking for students to join us in welcoming all new students starting at KI this fall semester of 2024. There are many roles and shifts available for you to get involved. Take this opportunity to meet new people and at the same time earn some extra money. Read more about the different opportunities and how to apply below.

How is the University Alliance Stockholm Trio working to influence the EU's research agenda and what potential impact will the EU election have on research and education in Europe? We asked three questions to Dan Andrée, senior advisor at the university alliance's office in Brussels.

Researchers at the Thoracic Surgery research group, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, have performed a study of patients who underwent bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement in Sweden between 2003 and 2018.
The study is published in JAMA Network Open and shows varying performance between different mechanical cardiac valves.

New parents were in focus when the KI Impact Challenge was arranged on a weekend, a student event to promote innovation. More than 40 students worked over two days on the challenge of improving parents' health and well-being.

For the 12th Tissue and Motion Conference, Karolinska Institutet researchers returned to Djurönäset Hotel on 16th-17th April 2024 to discuss research, network, and enjoy Stockholm’s archipelago.

Around 200 people from near and far gathered to celebrate FyFa 75 years on Tuesday 23 April. The day was characterised by togetherness, strategic and visionary talks, good food, and a positive outlook on the future.

Tips from KI Grants Office regarding current calls

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a web-based platform that provides a whole new insight into the human body at the cellular level. The aim is to create an invaluable resource for researchers worldwide to increase knowledge about human health and disease. The study is published in Genome Biology.

On 25 April it was eight years since Ahmadreza Djalali, Swedish citizen and doctor of disaster medicine at Karolinska Institutet, was arrested while on a visit to Iran. Karolinska Institutet’s president, Annika Östman Wernerson, and vice-president, Martin Bergö, have written an open letter to Sweden’s minister for foreign affairs and minister for education, calling on them to use all means available to increase the pressure on Iran to free Dr Djalali and other Swedish citizens.

Dominika Radziun, a former PhD student at Karolinska Institutet, and currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Donders Institute, The Netherlands, has recently been awarded one of the five Glushko Dissertation Prizes for her doctoral thesis entitled "Body perception and brain plasticity in blind and sighted individuals".

This summer, the 27th Nordic Congress of Gerontology will take place. The theme this year is “Ageing in a Transforming World,” and the congress will be held from June 12 to 14, arranged by Karolinska Institutet (KI). It has been 20 years since it was last held in Stockholm, and the most recent time it was in Sweden was in 2014 in Gothenburg.

Cloud-based personal health records are on the rise globally. This article series introduces the concept of a GPOC of PHRs, consisting of five parts, with the current article focusing on systematic review and meta-analysis. It scrutinizes technical, computer scientific, and security-based prerequisites, analyzing twelve factors including data security, efficiency, cost, integrity, cryptography, and access.

Do you use clean water?

An international research team, led by Tibor Harkany and Robert Schnell at Karolinska Institutet and MedUni Vienna's Center for Brain Research, set out to find ways of influencing hormone release to reduce stress reactions in post-traumatic stress disorder. They came across secretagogin, which regulates the release of some of the most fundamental and indispensable neurotransmitters and hormones.

In a study recently published in Nature, an international research team led by Karolinska Institutet and MedUni Vienna, addressed how and why acute heat exposure, in conditions reminiscent of a sauna session or limited exposure to the sun, leads to reduced food intake.

Neuropeptides, which are broadly considered to modulate synaptic communication, can have unique and life-long effects on brain development, particularly the wiring of neuronal circuits. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and MedUni Vienna now show that the presence of the neuropeptide galanin during a critical window of brain development is imperative for neurons to connect efficaciously to one another. The study is published in in Nature Communications.

The 2024 Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Centre Day draw a large number of experts in the field of cancer research from KI and Karolinska University Hospital. The theme this year was prevention, with particular attention directed to scientific advances and remaining challenges, as well as to how involving patients in prevention enhances quality of care.

The Berzelius Medal in gold from the Swedish Chemical Society is 2024 awarded to Roman Zubarev, professor of medical proteomics at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Karolinska Institutet.

Davide Liborio Vetrano has received EU funding in the context of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks for his project entitled "UnderstandiNg fraIlty tOwards a future of healthy ageing (UNION)". The European Commission funds research and innovation projects to boost top researchers' careers through mobility and innovative doctoral and postdoctoral training. The project will start in 2025 and Davide Liborio Vetrano is the Principal Investigator at Karolinska Institutet.

From 15.00 on April 30 and on May 1, the KI Housing office will be closed for the celebration of Walpurgis and the 1st of May Holiday.

The large hall at Münchenbryggeriet in Stockholm was buzzing with life on Friday morning 12 April when general physicians from all over Sweden practiced mass casualty management and triage, using the simulation exercise AnTriEx, which is developed and instructed by the research group Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Responses at KI.

The Swedish Government has decided that Karolinska Institutet may return the Finnish remains in KI's anatomical collection. The issue of returning the Finnish remains was raised by the committee for the return of Finnish remains in 2018. KI has been working towards this possibility for a long time.

During Kulturnatt Stockholm (Culture Night) on 20 April, The Cell opened to visitors. The Cell is a place where art helps to explain the complex world of life science. The National Museum of Science and Technology is responsible for the initiative and Karolinska Institutet is involved as a knowledge partner and a bridge between the world of research and the public events at The Cell.

Are you tormented by an exaggerated fear of harming your child? Relax – it’s common and research shows that it’s also treatable.

Following extensive investment in custom-built facilities, the Small Molecule Mass Spectrometry Core Facility (KI-SMMS), is operating at full speed as of Fall 2023.

After 4 semesters with committed participants, the leadership development program FAL Nord (Future Academic Leaders Nord) has now ended. Kristiina Tammimies from KBH participated and has brought valuable knowledge with her to her current and future leadership.

Last Friday, 12 April, the internal investigators looking into the freezer malfunction that occurred in the Neo building over the 2023 Christmas break presented their report. The researchers and personnel most affected were invited to a staff meeting where, among others, Dean of KI South Matti Sällberg and Chief Security Officer Magnus Håkansson, who led the investigation, gave an account of their findings.

Hi Malin Aspö, doctoral student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics. On May 3 you will defend your thesis "Life changing moments - transitions and critical points in young-onset dementia". What is the main focus of the thesis?

Bacterial meningitis is a devastating infectious disease because, even when cured, most survivors live with permanent neurological disabilities such as motor impairment, cognitive delay, hearing and vision loss, seizures, and psychiatric disorders, due to neuronal damage caused by the infection. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now revealed new insights into the mechanisms of bacterial brain invasion and neuronal damage during bacterial meningitis.

Professor Emeritus Gunnar Bjursell received the Bernadotte Award on 10 April. He is awarded the prize for his many years of research and major educational efforts on cultural engagement and its effects on the brain, well-being and health.

Several of KI’s programmes include on-site training as one of the teaching methods. On-site training is sometimes called VFU, which is the abbreviation of the Swedish term, and was previously known as clinical education. We asked two KI students, physiotherapy student Elin and psychology student Jonas, what it’s like to do on-site training and what to think about before going on your first placement.

A lorry explodes on the E4 motorway, there is a fire at the Hovet arena, someone takes hostages at Tom Titts, there's an explosion at Arlanda - it all happens at the same time and the medical services in Region Stockholm have to deal with a large number of injured patients at once. Fortunately, it was all just an exercise. The exercise, which is part of the TKS course, now aims to be developed into a national course concept.

Angelique has a background in KI, where she obtained her medical degree, her path has been paved through many years of clinical service at Karolinska University Hospital and she is a specialist in both gynecology & obstetrics and gyneoncology.

The American Society of Clinical Investigation, ASCI, has appointed Göran K. Hansson as an honorary member at the society's annual conference in Chicago.

The deadline for incoming fee-paying students to apply for accommodation from KI Housing is June 16.

Dr Joseph Kabatende is a Health Products and Regulatory Systems Specialist working for the WHO. He completed his PhD in 2023 from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden after defending his doctoral thesis entitled “Pharmacovigilance of Mass Drug Administration for Control of Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminths in Rwanda".

This qualitative study aimed to investigate the implementation of, and satisfaction with, a telephone-based peer support program for new fathers.

On 12 April, the internal investigation into the freezer failure during the Christmas holidays in 2023 was presented in the Neo building at Karolinska Institutet. The investigation has been led by KI's head of security and it points to clear technical as well as organisational shortcomings. Taken together, a chain of these shortcomings caused the breakdown that led to the destruction of research material and the loss of years of research work. The inquiry recommends a number of measures.

Three researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant. ERC grants are the preeminent European grants for individual principal investigators. The researchers will each receive EUR 2.5 million over a five-year period.

For 2 years the Translational Seed Funding Grant 2023 will support the collaborative project between the Schulte lab at Fyfa and the research team of Prof Matthias Löhr at CLINTEC.

On April 22-24 IMM, together with the Swedish Chemicals Agency, will host an international meeting within the EU project PARC.

When the QS World University Ranking by Subject for 2024 is published, KI retains its leading position among the world's and Europe's universities. Among other things, KI maintains its position as the EU's leading medical university.

Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet have found that low influence and opportunities for development at work (job control) and heavy physical workload are important explanatory factors for educational disparities in all-cause and heart disease mortality.

Drugs known as GLP-1 analogues have become increasingly popular to treat diabetes and obesity, but there have been concerns that they might increase the risk of thyroid cancer. Now an extensive Scandinavian study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet has found no evidence of such a link. The study is published in The BMJ.

In the largest epidemiologic study to date of the risk of giving birth to a child with autism, ADHD or intellectual disability following acetaminophen use during pregnancy, researchers found no association. The study is now published in JAMA.

For heart attack patients, treating only the coronary artery that caused the infarction works just as well as preventive balloon dilation of the other coronary arteries, according to a new large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and others. The results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Swedish Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard and Minister for Education Mats Persson visited Karolinska Institutet on 8 April to present a forthcoming investigation about the opportunities for foreign citizens to work and study in Sweden. KI welcomes the investigation, whose mission is in line with previously expressed views by the university, however KI emphasizes that changes are urgent.