News archive

Sons of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a twofold increased risk to develop obesity, according to a study published in Cell Reports Medicine. According to the researchers from Karolinska Institutet the findings highlight a previously unknown risk of passing PCOS-related health problems across generations through the male side of a family

Are international field hospitals always needed? And do we always need to send medicines to disaster-stricken areas? These were two myths that Johan von Schreeb discussed in his keynote when EU’s health ministers gathered in Stockholm.

Professor Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant, which is aimed at researchers who have previously been funded by the European Research Council and now want to explore the innovation potential of their previous project. The grant will be used to further develop a hepatic model for liver disease and identify potential new drugs and drug targets.

An American donor has given USD 3 million to Karolinska Institutet and researcher Erik Berglund, who works at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology. The free donation will go towards Dr. Berglund’s specialist fields in transplantation, autoimmunity, and cancer.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital have together with health economists at Linköping University analyzed costs for various methods to diagnose genetic causes of intellectual disability. The study, published in Scientific Reports, shows that the costs when using whole genome sequencing as a first-line diagnostic test were lower compared to chromosomal microarray analysis.

Several KI researchers at the department of Global public Health, are part of an international project that has been awarded 3.7 million Euros. The funding comes from the EU Horizon scheme to help young people aged 12-15 improve their mental health and reduce their risk of chronic illnesses.

Natalie Lundin at the Orthopaedics research group, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Pelvic fractures : epidemiology and treatment" on May 12th, 2023.
Main Supervisor is Anders Enocson.

Karolinska Institutets former President Ole Petter Ottersen has received two nice recognitions: the 2023 Friend of Stockholm's students award from the Stockholm Federation of Student Unions (SSCO) and the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star" from the Japanese government. Sten Lindahl, former professor at Karolinska Institutet, is also recognized with the Japanese order in the class "Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon."

On 21 March 2023, researchers from several universities around the country, the Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis and Region Jönköping, gathered at Karolinska Institutet in Solna for a symposium on person-centred and integrated care for older people. Moreover, keynote speakers from the UK and Australia set the scene on the topics of person-centred and integrated care.

When Rebecca Furaha was looking for programmes that could help her improve maternity care in Congo-Kinshasa, she found what she was looking for at KI. Now she runs collaborative projects to increase knowledge about sexual and reproductive health among the country’s young people.

The Karolinska Institutet University Board (konsistoriet) has gained two new members: director Sarah McPhee and Professor Emeritus Jan Nilsson. The decision was made by the government on 27 April in its appointment procedures for chairpersons and other external board members for 30 state higher education institutions. Their term office will run from 1 May 2023 to 30 September 2024.

The government’s decision to shorten the term of office for new board members for the country’s higher education institutions has sparked critical reactions from the sector. Annika Östman Wernerson, president of Karolinska Institutet, shares their concerns.

KI Housing is now a part of KI instead of being an independent company owned by KI Holding AB. Within the KI organization, the Housing office can now be found under the Property Management Unit at the Property and Facilities Office. Due to the transition, KI Housing has new contact details:

Why is it that certain mammals have an exceptional sense of smell, some hibernate, and yet others, including humans, are predisposed to disease? In a major international research project where researchers at Karolinska Institutet participated, has surveyed and analysed the genomes of 240 different mammals. The results, now published in 11 articles in the journal Science, shows which regions have important functions in mammals.

The KI Housing office is closed on Monday, May 1, due to Public holidays. If you have any urgent maintenance issues when the office is closed, we ask you to use the on-call service for your area.

On April 26 it has been seven years since Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish citizen who received his PhD in disaster medicine at Karolinska Institutet, was arrested during a visit in Iran. Karolinska Institutet and The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies now urge in an open letter to Sweden’s prime minister, foreign minister and education minister to try all means possible to ensure the release of Djalali.

The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Rising Star Award honours two Early Career Scientists annually, whose research in applied and translational neuroscience has the potential to advance the science, treatment and prevention of brain disorders.

Janica Kallonen at the research group Thoracic Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, defended her thesis "Long-term follow-up after surgery for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension" on May 5th, 2023.
Main Supervisor: Ulrik Sartipy.

Routine diagnostic analyses of mutations in cell-free DNA in patients with metastatic prostate cancer are now possible for the first time in Sweden. The test has been developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, and Karolinska University Hospital is now offering the analysis to hospitals around the Nordic region, giving more patients with certain gene mutations access to the cancer treatment they need.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women and many women are being treated to prevent the cancer from returning, for example with adjuvant hormone therapy. This therapy is prescribed as a once-a-day pill for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients (around 80% of all cases) for a duration of at least five years.

Antti Siika at the Vascular Surgery research group, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Biomechanical and Morphological Aspects of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Growth and Rupture" on April 28th, 2023.

Main Supervisor is Joy Roy.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped how cells in the human spinal cord are formed in the embryo and what genes control the process. Their findings can give rise to new knowledge on how injury to and diseases of the spinal cord arise and how they can be treated. The study has been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Kristina Jonsson and Lina Jonnerhag both work as teaching assistants at the Division of Physiotherapy, besides being active second year students at the Study Programme in Physiotherapy. With the help of assistants, teachers get great support in teaching large classes, often between 40 – 80 students.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated how preterm birth and foetal growth are related to the risk of atrial fibrillation up to middle-age. The study, which is published in JAMA Pediatrics, shows that being born preterm or large for gestational age was associated with increased risks of atrial fibrillation later in life. Being small for gestational age at birth was only associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation up to the age of 18.

The risk of developing lymphoma is slightly elevated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and has increased in recent years in patients with Crohn’s disease, report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The researchers could see a risk increase in patients taking modern IBD drugs and, less so, in patients not on such drugs, indicating that the lymphoma risk could be affected by both the medication and the disease activity itself.

The 5D Heart Patch Project, led by Prof Kenneth Chien, has identified human ventricular progenitor (HVP) cells that can create self-assembling heart grafts in vivo. The research has the potential to offer hope to millions of people suffering from heart failure.

A hitherto unknown mechanism for DNA folding is described in a study in Nature published by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics. Their findings provide new insights into chromosomal processes that are vital to both normal development and to prevent disease.

Close on 500 colleagues in the cancer field from Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet gathered in Aula Medica during this year’s Karolinska CCC conference on 30–31 March. Also attending were Sahlgrenska CCC and Skåne CCC.

A new Swedish biobank act comes into force on July 1. It is expected to make it easier for researchers to use biobanks – i.e. collections of samples of human and fetal tissue – and to collaborate.

In a Swedish systematic review published in Acta Paediatrica, researchers from Karolinska Institutet, University of Gothenburg, Umeå University, and the Swedish agency for health technology assessment and assessment of social services, mapped the current knowledge of hormonal treatment in youths <18 years with gender dysphoria.

University of Rwanda and the Swedish Embassy in Kigali celebrated 20 years of cooperation. At the three day-celebration in Rwanda were representatives from the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, Uppsala University among others. Following the celebration, KTH held a two-day workshop as a kickoff for expanded and deepened cooperation under a new agreement that was signed. Stefan Swartling Peterson and Giulia Gaudenzi report from their trip to Rwanda.

Veronika Sundström is Karolinska Institutet’s new university director as of 17 April. Her job is to lead KI’s central administration consisting of ten offices and over 500 staff. The president, vice-president and university director together comprise the university’s senior management.

Jelena Misic, PhD in Nils-Göran Larsson Group at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet, has been selected to participate in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in June 2023. Jelena studies different aspects of mitochondrial gene expression in mammals.

In a nationwide Swedish study of 207 births to women with an earlier diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), researchers found an increased risk of both maternal and neonatal adverse outcomes. The study was published in eClinicalMedicine and is a collaboration between Washington University in St Louis and Karolinska Institutet.

In a recently published article published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Professor Yihai Cao’s research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, charts the information about drug development for the treatment of a number of human diseases by targeting new blood vessel formation.

The newborn care researchers in the team Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals, have visited research colleagues at the Phu San Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. The visit included meetings with the director and vice-director of Phu San, Dr Nguyen Duy Anh and Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, visits to hospital departments, presentation of ongoing and upcoming research, workshops, simulation trainings and planning of studies including the NeoSpirit project and future Vietnamese PhD candidates.

Predictions are becoming more and more a part of our lives, and they are becoming increasingly useful in medical science as the science evolves. Increased understanding of disease and its treatments allows us to use predictions based on predictive biomarker signatures to optimize treatment outcomes for increasingly specific subject groups.

Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease requires reliable and cost-effective screening methods. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now discovered that a type of sugar molecule in blood is associated with the level of tau, a protein that plays a critical role in the development of severe dementia. The study, which is published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, can pave the way for a simple screening procedure able to predict onset ten years in advance.

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is lower in people with obesity who have a genetic predisposition for high BMI than people with obesity influenced mainly by environmental factors such as lifestyle, researchers from Karolinska Institutet report in eClinicalMedicine.

In an experimental study published in Science Signaling, researchers at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology have studied basic mechanisms for cellular communication along a highly conserved pathway that regulates embryonic development and stem cell regulation. Based on the published data, we have already created new biosensors that present important tools for future drug development efforts and molecular screening.

The group of expert coordinators at the Centre for Health Crises keeps growing. The expert coordinators manage the work that is done within their field of expertise. The latest area of expertise to be added to the Centre is laboratory and diagnostic preparedness, with Jessica Alm as expert coordinator.

Same support, different name. The Student Health Centre at Karolinska Institutet has been renamed Student Wellbeing Centre to better reflect the services they provide.

“We’re delighted, and the VR’s rating gives us even more leverage for our work,” says Anders Gustafsson, former vice president of KI, who has helped lead the work on the national evaluation of the quality of clinical research that has now been published by the Swedish Research Council (VR). The ALF evaluation is based on the agreement that regulates KI’s collaboration with Region Stockholm on medical training, clinical research and care development.

The StratNeuro Start-up Grant is intended to support outstanding Neuroscience researchers at the beginning of their careers, who have received a Vetenskapsrådet (VR) starting grant or a Karolinska Institutet faculty-funded assistant professor grant.

Region Stockholm has been given a high-quality rating by the Swedish Research Council (VR) in its evaluation of the quality of clinical research and how it is transformed into patient and societal benefit. The evaluation is important in many respects, including to the distribution of government ALF (Agreement on Clinical Research and Training) funds.

Acetylcholine regulates blood flow, but the source of blood acetylcholine has been unclear. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that certain T cells in human blood can produce acetylcholine, which may help regulate blood pressure and inflammation. The study, which is published in PNAS, also demonstrates a possible association between these immune cells in seriously ill patients and the risk of death.

Congratulations to all our newly admitted master students at KI.

Elin Larsson has been appointed to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) to the HRP, i.e. the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction.

Three professors at Karolinska Institutet – Gonçalo Castelo-Branco, Maria Eriksson and Björn Högberg – have been awarded ERC Advanced Grants, one of the most prestigious and competitive EU funding schemes. The funds, totaling more than 8 million euros, will support the use of innovative basic research methods to further our understanding of disease mechanisms and the tiniest building blocks of DNA.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most prominent cause of dementia affecting millions of people worldwide. As the changes in the brain function starts 10-20 years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer’s disease, there is a strong interest in the identification of early markers that can be predictive of future mental health/cognitive decline. This may be something that some KI researchers are on the lookout for. Their latest study is now published in Nature Reviews Neurology.