News archive

When Times Higher Education in the UK publishes its ranking of the world's best universities, KI is ranked 49th out of more than 2,000 universities in 115 countries. This means that KI has the highest ranking in the Nordic region.

During the annual Inauguration of new Professors at Karolinska Institutet on Thursday, October 3rd, President Annika Östman Wernerson presented the 2024 prize for innovation and utilization to Jacob Hollenberg, Mattias Ringh and Leif Svensson. The trio received the award for their work in designing, technically developing, scientifically evaluating and subsequently implementing and operationalizing a system with volunteer lifesavers who are alerted via an app to sudden cardiac arrests.

Ulf Hedin, Professor of Vascular Surgery at Karolinska Institutet, and Christian Gasser, Professor of Biomechanics at KTH, are jointly leading a new research project focusing on technology to enable individual treatment of fatal forms of stroke and carotid artery disease. The project is now being granted research funding of SEK 4.5 million per year for five years by MedTechLabs.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in Sweden, with about 10,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Despite advancements in diagnostics and treatments, managing prostate cancer remains challenging due to its often silent progression and the complexities surrounding early detection.

Team OT from the Division of Occupational Therapy won KI Fun Run 2024 in the Funny walk category.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has identified an RNA molecule that is important for skin wound healing. The research, published in Nature Communications, may have implications for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun share this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They are being awarded for their discovery of microRNAs, which play a crucial role in the development of complex organisms. Research is underway at Karolinska Institutet on how these small molecules can be applied clinically.

The Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS) awards Martin Schalling, Professor of Medical Genetics at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, with the Ingvar Prize 2024.

Svenska Läkaresällskapet (the Swedish Medical Society, SLS) has decided to award Jana de Boniface, adjunct professor at Karolinska Institutet and senior physician and surgeon at the surgery and oncology clinic, Capio St. Göran's Hospital, with their prestigious Jubilee Prize. The awardee is rewarded with SEK 175,000 and the SLS century medal in silver.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

A new donation professorship in prevention is being established at Karolinska Institutet. It will be named Prince Daniel's Professorship in Cardiovascular Prevention and will be awarded to researcher and obstetrician Ylva Trolle Lagerros, who took up the position on 1 October. The aim is to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Sweden.

On 27 September, the Science Festival Researcher Friday (Forskarfredag) was held at Albanova. During the day, many activities were held, including a Researchers‘ Fair and the Researchers’ Grand Prix competition. Many KI researchers participated in the programme and met curious high school students.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Charles University studying liver fibrosis have made an exciting new discovery, now published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. Their latest findings could pave the way for innovative approaches to treating this challenging condition.

The Cities Partnerships Programme Stockholm which comprises of UCL and the Stockholm Trio (Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology & Stockholm University), invite you to express interest in two days of workshops in London, the 8-9 April 2025.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new comprehensive mapping of genetic activity for understanding the causes of chronic pain. The study, published in Nature Communications, opens way to more efficient non-addictive treatment for chronic pain and potentially headache disorders.

Welcome to Shifeng Lian's presentation of his thesis ”Biomarkers for early detection and prognostic prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma”.

We are happy to introduce new colleagues at the Department of Laboratory Medicine. Welcome everyone!

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The Science Festival Forskarfredag was organized at Albanova the 27 September. Many activities took place, for instance a Science Fair and the competition Researchers' Grand Prix.
Many researchers from KI participated and met curious high school students.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Gothenburg have identified a biomarker that could become an important tool for healthcare in assessing patients with acute COVID-19 infection. The researchers have studied interleukin (IL)-26, a signaling substance in the immune system, which has been shown to reflect the severity of the disease, viral load, and the need for hospital care.

Researchers, including doctoral students in their last years of their doctoral education, at KI are invited to apply for short-term research exchange grants funded by Eurolife.

The Course and Programme Committee (KPK) is now accepting applications for funding for activities aimed at pedagogical development of doctoral courses.

The President has decided on a clarification of the instructions on the employment procedure for teachers at KI. The revision will make things clearer and more transparent for both the applicants and the ones assessing them. The updated instructions come into effect on 1 November 2024.

Johan von Schreeb, professor of Global Disaster Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, is awarded the KTH Great Prize 2024 "for his efforts to reduce suffering in the world".

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a new potential risk marker for cardiovascular disease in women. A new study shows an association between low levels of an anti-inflammatory antibody and the risk of heart attack and coronary heart disease. The study is published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology.

KI researchers Lea Stark and Erik Andersson have qualified for the final of the Researchers' Grand Prix to be held in November.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) is renewing its educational collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and will soon launch two new courses. The courses are possible thanks to support from The Kamprad Family Foundation. The focus is on courses that provide participants with the skills and tools they need to work with healthcare interventions in low-resource contexts, humanitarian disasters and health crises, both globally and locally.

Are you a doctoral student at KI specializing in Genetics and Genomics, Neurosciences, Biomedicine, Biotechnology, or Physiology? Do you want to dive deep into the latest advancements in stem cells, iPSC characterization, and 3D organoid technology?

National centre for suicide research and prevention (NASP) recently participated in the periodic EXPERIENCE Consortium Meeting, held on September 19-20, 2024, in Rome, Italy. Hosted by Tor Vergata University of Rome, the meeting brought together members of the consortium to review the progress of the EXPERIENCE project, a groundbreaking initiative exploring the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in clinical settings.

Vinnova is investing in precision medicine and awarding grant funding to six innovation environments. Two of them are at Karolinska Institutet, and both focus on treating cancer. The aim of the grants is to fund efforts to bring greater precision to the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases.

The Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS) awards researchers John Pernow and Aida Collado Sánchez at Karolinska Institutet with the Alvarenga Prize 2024. The laureates are rewarded for a research article on a study that shows a new cause behind vascular complications in type 2 diabetes and possible future treatment to prevent this.

The theme of the European Geriatric Medicine Society Congress this year was "From Healthy Ageing to Complex Needs in Older Adults". One of the aims of the (EuGMS) is to encourage and help young practitioners to further their knowledge, by awarding the Best Abstract Awards to the oral communications with the highest translational and clinical relevance. This year, three out of 104 oral presentations were awarded the prize, each winner receiving €500 each and a diploma.

Hi Katarina Holmberg, doctoral student at the Division of Nursing. On October 11 you will defend your thesis ”Symptom burden, preparedness, self-efficacy and self-care in allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation”. What is the main focus of the thesis?

The very idea of a vaccine is to prevent a disease from occurring. By exposing the body to a small part of an infectious agent that causes a disease, but doing so in a killed or weakened form, the body develops a defense against the disease. In a sense, vaccines can be argued to be the ultimate form of preparedness, as they prevent the disease from occurring in the first place, or at least mitigate it.

On 25 September 2024, the Widerströmska Huset at Karolinska Institutet hosted the annual SNAC-K Research Day. The event brought together researchers and the data collection team to discuss and reflect on the latest SNAC-K data.

As part of an initiative with Imperial College London, Karolinska Institutet aims to stimulate doctoral student networking and interaction between KI doctoral students and doctoral students at Imperial College.

We all recognise the scene from countless horror movies and thrillers. A new, unknown virus is spreading. Panic ensues! Suddenly, the streets of New York are filled with people in yellow hazmat suits with big helmets, carrying stretchers where people lie writhing in terrible agony. But what is does it really look like when we prepare for and manage communicable diseases? The Centre for Health Crises’ expert coordinator knows more.

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Kyla McKay, researcher in MS epidemiology and affiliated with the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström Minnesfonds pris in “Clinical Neurology - especially inflammatory mechanisms affecting central or peripheral nervous system function”.

There are five places left on our doctoral course and you still have the chance to apply!

Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 is high in both people with and without mental illness, according to a large multinational study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in Nature Communications. However, Swedish registry data revealed that individuals with unmedicated mental illness have lower vaccination levels.

Dedicated research time for clinical professionals is central to high quality clinical research. Region Stockholm annually announces positions at different levels for clinical research. This year, a large part of these very attractive positions went to researchers at the Department of Medicine Solna (MedS).

Some health crises occur suddenly and intensely, for example in the event of an armed attack or an earthquake. Others come more stealthily. One of the clearest and most worrying examples of an insidious health crisis is antibiotic resistance, which will be addressed at a high-level meeting of the United Nations in September.

Addgene is a non-profit organization that serves as a global plasmid repository, facilitating the sharing of molecular biology tools among researchers worldwide. Those scientists whose plasmid has been ordered 100 times or more are congratulated with a “Blue Flame Award”.

Sweet September has arrived, bringing some good news and some wait-and-sees. After the government presented its budget for 2025 on 19 September, it’s still not clear what kind of resources will be available for higher education.

A recent study published in Nature Communications by researchers at Karolinska Institutet offers new insights into the development of ovarian follicles, which are vital for female fertility as they contain oocytes.

Correct and functioning diagnostics are a basic prerequisite for knowing what is happening and what it is we are dealing with, both in everyday life, but not least in a health crisis. Therefore, the need for adaptable and scalable laboratory and diagnostic capabilities is central to rapid and adequate management in many health crises, whether infectious diseases or chemical spills.

Priorities for intensive care in times of crisis are something that has interested the Centre for Health Crisis Expert Coordinator Märit Halmin for some time. She is the guest editor of a special issue of Läkartidningen on the subject, where she writes alongside several other experts in the field.

Healthcare is a societal function that needs to function both in everyday life and in a health crisis. In any health crisis, be it a natural disaster, war in an unstable Europe or a new pandemic, the number of patients in need of care will increase. Among them, a certain proportion will be critically ill in need of intensive care. This will require difficult decisions and prioritisation from their doctors.

Welcome to this year's Christmas party! A traditional Christmas table just for us at the beautiful Högloftet at Skansen. Sign up no later than October 31.