News archive

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.

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.

The strategic partnership agreement, signed between Karolinska Institutet and University of Tokyo aims to increase mobility of students and researchers, joint research projects and faculty development programs such as pedagogic training and research supervision.

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.

Tips from Grants Office regarding current calls

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.

One of the national services offered by NBIS/SciLifeLab is the Bioinformatics Peer review Support track (a.k.a. WABI), providing competences in large-scale data analysis for genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, Cryo-EM and other technologies. This support has been enabled by funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and is part of the SciLifeLab & Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science.

The KI Biobank in Solna turns 20 this year. No fewer than 8.5 million samples from 750,000 individuals are preserved in its freezers. “The biobank is absolutely crucial to meeting tomorrow’s research needs,” says Sanela Kjellqvist, head of the KI Biobank.

To facilitate new and existing contacts between researchers and doctoral students as well as increase research collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, KI’s Internationalisation Board is pleased to announce the availability of limited competitive funds for a lab visit.

Lea Stark is one among five competitors in the Forskar Grand Prix Digital, where she will present a key aspect of her research in just four minutes.

Preparedness Week 2024 has started. The theme for the year is "Get started" and around the country, municipalities, regions, civil society organizations and many more are investing in information and communication campaigns. But what exactly is preparedness?

The KI fun run was a fantastic afternoon filled with community, joy and movement! With over 350 participants, 33 teams and 22 officials, we created a wonderful atmosphere.

Researchers have developed a gel inspired by cow slime for patients suffering from disc herniation.

A well-functioning crisis organisation is important to be able to handle special events/crises and to minimize damage to KI's operations, employees, researchers and students. Updated guidelines for the organisation are now available, including crisis plans.

The Center for Resuscitation science at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Duke University, USA, participated in a research exchange on the use of drones as first responders in cases of cardiac arrest. During a symposium in Gothenburg, researchers and emergency services from both Sweden and the US shared their experiences and discussed future possibilities to improve prehospital rescue systems using drone technology.

Join us on 24 September 2024, at the World Trade Centre in Stockholm for the Doctoral Student and Supervisor Day, a day dedicated to co-creation, co-design, and participatory research. Engage with leading experts like Dr. Joanne Woodford and Dr. Elin Inge, delve into innovative homecare projects with Docent Ida Goliath and Dr. Sarah Wallcook, and discuss the crucial role of feedback with Dr. Lena Engqvist Boman.

The Prize (USD 10.000) is meant to reward pre-graduate scientific contributions within the doctoral education. The candidate should not have reached the age of 32 years at the time he/she is nominated to the prize. The prize will be awarded at the Installation Ceremony of Karolinska Institutet.

Tips from KI Grants Office about current calls.

Some of the world’s most prominent Alzheimer’s researchers congregated recently in Stockholm for the tenth anniversary of the prestigious Goodes Prize. The programme included a seminar day and a study visit to Karolinska Institutet followed by a social event in Stockholm City Hall.

The term of office for current assignments within the program committees ends on 31 March 2025. The Committee for Higher Education (KU) welcomes applications for assignments within the program committees for the mandate period 2025-2028.

For the third year in a row, Karolinska Institutet has been placed on the list of Sweden's 100 most attractive employers according to students and young academics. This is in fierce competition with, among others, Ikea, Google, Spotify and Astra Zeneca. This is shown by the annual Young Professional Attraction Index.

Researchers found that a medicine called ferric carboxymaltose given in drip through the vein works faster and better than an iron tablet taken by mouth for the treatment of anaemia – and it is as safe as the tablet. The findings were published in Lancet Global Health.