News archive

The Department of Physiology and Pharmacology celebrated 75 years since its royal inauguration on the Solna campus during 2024. But FyFa's history goes further back than that - and looks forward to many years of community and outstanding research and teaching. On 23 April, the department celebrates with a full day of lectures and a Dragons’ Den.

Karolinska Institutet has signed an agreement with Interflora for the purchase of bouquets and funeral flowers (dnr 2-4881/2024)

In the autumn of 2025, the training program "A Healthy School Start for Health and Learning" will be launched for the first time. It is aimed at school teams consisting of principals, school nurses, and teachers, offering a structured approach to support families in creating healthy habits.

We had a chat with the course leader Liselotte Schäfer Elinder to gain a deeper insight into the background of the training and what participants can expect.

Professor Eleni Aklillu has been appointed to lead the Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases subprogram within the Sweden–Tanzania research cooperation. Backed by Sida funding, the initiative will support the training of two PhD students to strengthen local research capacity in global health.

Professor Eleni Aklillu at the Department of Global Public Health has secured €1.3 million for an EU-funded project under TEI MAV+, aimed at strengthening clinical research and education in Rwanda. As part of a €10 million initiative led by Sida, the project will enhance clinical trial infrastructure, establish quality management systems, and introduce new PhD and master’s programs to empower future African scientists and health professionals.

As of 15 March, Renee Gardner and Emilie Agardh started as research group leaders in the EPiCSS group. Read an interview with the new group leaders where they share their vision, the dynamics of their shared leadership, and even which song best represents their group.

Curious about what a department coordinator does? Here you get an insight into Petra Helkala's daily work.

A new round of digital training on information security is now being sent out to you as an employee at KI. Short lessons on password management, phishing, disinformation and how to report incidents.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine (MWLC) announces up to ten grants for Postdoctoral positions in the field of Reparative Medicine, including stem cell regenerative medicine, bioengineering, reprogramming and biomanufacturing toward translation.

KI has awarded this year's Sustainability Prize to Ester Gubi, a doctor and sociologist, and Ann Liljas, associate professor in global public health and assistant lecturer, both at the Department of Global Public Health at KI. They receive the prize for their outstanding contributions to sustainable development. The prize was awarded for the third time and in connection with KI's Sustainability Day on 2 April.

Karolinska University Hospital has recently adopted a new RDE (research, development and education) strategy. The strategy is now firmly anchored with Karolinska Institutet. For us, collaboration with Region Stockholm is a priority – strong regional collaboration and partnerships with the private sector are essential if Sweden is to reinforce its international position in medical research and development.

The research bill for 2025-2028 announces, among other things, calls that require coordination of applicant universities. KI’s President Annika Östman Wernerson has decided to set up a steering group with the task of simplifying and overseeing these processes and other upcoming initiatives in the government's research policy.

In celebration of International Women's Day, Professor Eleni Aklillu was featured on EDCTP's social media and praised for her leadership in the PROFORMA project and for her guidance of female researchers.

If you want to reach a broad international audience with your research, the news platform The Conversation is a good opportunity. Articles by KI researchers reached a total of 2.3 million readers in 2024.

The prize recognizes researchers/research students who have distinguished themselves through outstanding utilization of research results that have led to innovation.

To get your application signed, please make sure your budget is approved by Ann Almqvist first! Only a few select applications do not require a budget!

A research internship enables doctors on an internship to combine their regular clinical internship (in Swedish Allmäntjänstgöring - AT) with up to 12 months of research at KI. Apart from being eligible for an internship, candidates must also at the time of the application, hold a medical degree and either as a registered doctoral student at KI or a PhD engaged in research at KI.

2024 marked the fifth anniversary of the University Alliance Stockholm Trio – a partnership between Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Stockholm University. To mark this milestone, Stockholm Trio has launched a new website where you can follow our work to strengthen collaboration between the universities.

Some of the amendments apply to the delegation of authority to the deans, university director and heads of department, while others concern the organisation as a whole.

KI has presented this year’s sustainability award to Assistant Senior Lecturer Emma Swärdh for her dedication and leadership in the field of sustainable development. Created in 2023, the award was presented at KI’s Sustainability Day on 22 May for the second time. “I hope that it will inspire more people to get involved in sustainability issues,” she says.

Karolinska Institutet has appointed an advisor to President Annika Östman Wernerson for co-operation with the healthcare sector. On 1 December, Maria Eriksdotter, professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, will take up this position.

On Wednesday 17 December the fire alarm system in Neo will be tested. During the test, sirens will sound, but you are not expected to evacuate.

The Committee for Research has decided to award grants to 15 networks within the call for funds for interdisciplinary research networks. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen scientific quality and promote collaborations across institutional boundaries.

University of Bergen in collaboration with researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded a significant grant funded by Horizon Europe with €7 million during 2024-2028 in recognition of their dedication to target Epstein-Barr virus to treat and prevent Multiple Sclerosis.

Congratulations to Linn Öijerstedt for receiving financial support by BioArctic for her postdoctoral fellowship in the pursue of finding a marker of TDP-43 pathology. In addition, Linn has received grants from Björklunds foundation and Demensfonden for her projects on cognitive and behavioural impairment in ALS.

Juliette Foucher's paper validating the Edingburgh Cognitive and Behavioral ALS Screen (ECAS) in Swedish.

On 1 January 2025, a new organisation of KI’s Professional Services (PS) will come into force. Six existing offices will cease to exist and three new ones will be established. At the same time, working methods for increased coordination of cross-cutting issues within the professional services will be developed.

SSMF (Swedish Society for Medical Research) is aimed at researchers in all medical fields and supports basic research as well as applied research. In the autumn of 2024, 21 researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded SSMF Consolidator Grants, Starting Grants and Postdoctoral Grants, respectively.

On July 1, 2023, research group leader Karin Jensen was employed as professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS).

Seasonal flu will soon be sweeping the country. All Dentmed and Unitand employees have the opportunity to get vaccinated against seasonal flu at no cost, according to a management decision.

If you have an interest in culture, there are several initiatives at KI to participate and get involved in. Giulia Gaudenzi, Assistant Professor at the Department of Global Public Health is also a member of the Cultural Council at KI and we asked her to list the cultural activities available at KI.

Stephan Rössner and Carol Tishelman are to be awarded the 2024 KI Silver Medal. The medal is conferred upon individuals who have made particularly commendable efforts in support of Karolinska Institutet’s activities. The researchers will receive their medals at the Diligence and Devotion ceremony next February.

In the spring of 2024, an invitation was sent to researchers to participate in an evaluation of Clinicum's method support. Of all those who used the support, 7/10 were very satisfied and 9/10 would recommend it to a colleague. Some of the reasons for the satisfaction were that many people refer to a high level of competence and pedagogical ability of the methodological advisers, as well as the possibility of getting help quickly. Helpfulness, friendliness, and flexibility are also highlighted.

Welcome to the 2024 autumn term! The new term officially kicks off on 2 September and I look forward very much to seeing all our students back on campus.

A new e-mail list is now available for everyone working in Biomedicum: Forum Biomedicum. Here you can share and receive information about equipment, cultural events at KI, get advices etc.

The activities of the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition has been wound up and merged with the Department of Medicine, Huddinge. This means that the Department of Medicine, Huddinge is growing and that the activity at the department broadens.

Following a presidential decision that comes into effect on 1 July, the roles and mandates of KI’s deans are to be amended. The change is an outcome of the development of KI’s strategic focus areas.

This spring, we embarked on an important and comprehensive change process to optimise our internal resources and to create even better conditions for our core activities and departments. This work is now entering a more concrete phase.

This year marks 50 years since the dentistry programme moved from Holländargatan to Huddinge. The move to Huddinge meant a closer location to other medical education and research facilities, especially at Karolinska Institutet.

Jonas Bergh, Klas Kärre, Lars Rydén and Karin Schenck-Gustafsson are awarded the Grand Silver Medal 2024. The medal has been presented since 2010 to individuals who have made tremendous efforts to support the activities of KI and is recognized during the installation ceremony at Aula Medica on October 3.

As Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, students in Sweden and around the world have been staging protests on their university campuses, calling for all ties with Israeli universities to be severed. KI itself has seen smaller, peaceful demonstrations in which individual students have protested against Israel’s actions.

Photographer Lennart Nilsson became world famous for his images from the inside of the body. Foetuses during different stages of development and microscopically small cells could be photographed thanks to his electron microscope. Lennart Nilsson's pictures are now historic and many were taken when he worked at Karolinska Institutet.

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.

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 13 March, Karolinska Institutet hosted several prominent researchers from The Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security at the Widerström building, with a focus on discussing how to secure the availability of medical oxygen in the world.

The internal team investigating the freezer malfunction in Neo is entering the final phase of compiling its incident report. The report has taken time in order for it to be as complete as possible, as all aspects of the malfunction, from organisational causes to the technical failure, need to be included. The report must be ready by 27 March as IVO (amongst others) has issued a request to receive it. [Following the publication of this text, the finalisation of the report has been postponed.]

The EU Horizon Changemaker project, led by Kristi Sidney Annerstedt, on sustainable adolescent nutrition in Kenya, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, successfully completed the first Consortium meeting.

On Wednesday, March 6, the university management, President Annika Östman Wernerson, Vice President Martin Bergö and University Director Veronika Sundström visited the Department of Global Public Health, to gain a better insight into the department's activities. Key issues discussed included global awareness, the department's strengths and how dialogue can strengthen cooperation. In addition to the university management, the department's management team and Dean Carl Johan Sundberg participated.

On January 23, President Annika Östman Wernerson decided to name a lecture hall on Campus Solna after Christina Larsdotter. The decision was made after preparation by KI's advisory board for naming matters.