News archive

Four researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been granted a total of SEK 28 million in additional funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW). Two of these researchers are also promoted from Wallenberg Academy Fellows (WAF) to Wallenberg Scholars.

When Nobel prize winner Michael Kremer initially looked at the data of his now famous 1990s Kenya school study, he felt shocked and disappointed. The data showed that more textbooks did nothing to improve educational outcomes, contrary to what most researchers believed. But rather than succumbing to disillusionment, Kremer dug deeper into Kenya’s schooling system to uncover what measures truly did make an impact and found his answer: targeted help for weak students.

KI researcher Thomas Gustafsson, professor at the Department of Laboratory Medicine / Division of Clinical Physiology and Stefan Arver, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine and Chief Physician at ANOVA Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, are responsible for a study examining changes in muscle mass, muscle composition and strength in transgender persons during hormone treatment.

In three brilliant Nobel Lectures, the laureates describe how research into the systems cells use to deal with hypoxia can lead to improved treatments for anaemia, vascular atrophy and cancer.

Myriam Aouadi and Camilla Svensson have been awarded the European Research Council’s Consolidator grant 2019 for research on the role of macrophages in liver disease and how autoantibodies contribute to chronic pain, respectively.

During 1–6 of December 2019, Maria Eriksdotter, Dean at KI South, participated in a state visit to India together with the King and Queen of Sweden. The programme of the visit focused on sustainable innovation and ageing.

Patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) often suffer from type 2 diabetes. This phenomenon has since long remained mechanistically enigmatic. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a molecular mechanism linking these two diseases. The study is published in the scientific journal PNAS.

Women who have C-sections are no more likely to have children who develop obesity than women who give birth naturally, according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal PLOS Medicine. The findings contradict several smaller studies that did find an association between C-section deliveries and offspring obesity but did not consider the numerous maternal and prenatal factors that the researchers did in this study.

KI researcher Marta Roczniewska has received funding from FORTE for her project "Job crafting interventions − what is required for employees to be able to design and redesign their work?"

On Friday December 18, Elisa Longinetti will defend her thesis "Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis associated neuroinflammation: nationwide epidemiological studies on etiology, comorbidities, and treatment"

Hi, there Melody Almroth, doctoral student at the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet. On Friday 6 December you will defend your thesis. Tell us, what is your thesis about?

On the 27 November, the Centre for Tuberculosis Research held a seminar for doctoral students and post docs working on tuberculosis at Karolinska Institutet.

Daughters of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are five times more likely to be diagnosed with PCOS as adults, and the generational transmission is driven by high androgen levels during pregnancy, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report. Their results, which are based on register-based and clinical studies as well as transgenerational animal studies, are published in Nature Medicine.

Six of the 29 new Wallenberg Academy Fellows appointed in 2019 will conduct their groundbreaking research at Karolinska Institutet. The five-year grant is financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation to provide the young and talented researcher leaders with long-term research funding in Sweden.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed an online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) programme for the difficult-to-treat pain syndrome fibromyalgia. In her doctoral thesis, Maria Hedman-Lagerlöf shows that patients who receive the treatment experience fewer symptoms and enjoy better quality of life.

There is a strong correlation between high blood pressure in patients in the emergency room and an increased risk of future cardiovascular disease, researchers from Karolinska Institutet report in a large registry study published in the journal Hypertension. Their conclusion is that blood-pressure measurements in the emergency room can be used as a tool for reducing morbidity and mortality rates through early preventive intervention.

Older people can improve their lifestyle and adopt healthier behaviours with the support of an online coach. This can help improve risk factors related to cardiovascular disease and dementia. An international group of researchers, including the Division of Clinical Geriatrics and Aging Research Center at the Center for Alzheimer Research, has reported these findings today in The Lancet Digital Health.

Researchers have long known that some genes can cause cancer when overactive, but exactly what happens inside the cell nucleus when the cancer grows has so far remained enigmatic. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a new mechanism that renders one canonical driver of cancer overactive. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, create conditions for brand new strategies to fight cancer.

To inaugurate the research project "Refugees' Health Integration - ReHIN", a kick-off was organised on 5 November 2019, at Karolinska Institutet, including stakeholders that represented non-governmental organizations (NGOs), policymakers, governmental organizations and researchers in the field.

Twin Research and Human Genetics has just published an overview article of the Swedish Twin Registry (STR). The registry has developed into an infrastructure of broad utility, aiming to provide a resource for epidemiological and molecular studies of twins.

A collaboration between Professor Per-Olof Berggren from the group Signal Transduction and researchers in the Republic of Korea has led to the development of a soft, smart contact lens to monitor the intraocular pressure and applied it for noninvasive monitoring in association with the intraocular islet transplantation in diabetes.

Nearly 90 students participated in this year's edition of the EIT Health Innovation Day, which was held at the Karolinska Institutet on November 15. The task was to develop a product that solves a problem for a patient with multiple sclerosis.

Hi Mozhu Ding, PhD-student at the Division of Aging Research Center. On December 12 you will defend your thesis ”The role of atrial fibrillation in cognitive aging: A population-based study”, what's the main focus of the thesis?

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method to separate between two different types of a common herpes virus (HHV-6) that has been linked to multiple sclerosis. By analyzing antibodies in the blood against the most divergent proteins of herpesvirus 6A and 6B, the researchers were able to show that MS-patients carry the herpesvirus 6A to a greater extent than healthy individuals. The findings, published in Frontiers in Immunology, point to a role for HHV-6A in MS development.

Recently discovered immune cells called MAIT cells play a key role in group A streptococcal toxic shock, researchers at Karolinska Institutet report. The results, which are published in the journal PNAS, have potential implications for the diagnosis and treatment of this life-threatening condition.

Nicola Orsini, associate professor of medical statistics at the Department of Global Public Health , is one of the researchers at KI that qualify for the annual list of highly cited researchers compiled by Web of Science.

Two SRP Diabetes researchers will take part in this unique show to explore science through music, improvisation and art. The event takes place on November 24 and is organized by researchers from Karolinska Institutet.

The program team for "Patient in the driver's seat" met with Dana Lewis, a passionate advocate of patient-centered, patient-driven and patient designed research, to discuss co-created research.

Inducing labor after 41 instead of 42 full weeks of pregnancy appears to be safer in terms of perinatal survival, according to new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The current study is expected to provide a key piece of evidence for upcoming decisions in maternity care.

Pregnant women with eating disorders should undergo extended pregnancy screenings considering their increased risk of complications. That is the conclusion from a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The researchers were, for example, able to show that children to mothers with eating disorders had an increased risk of premature birth and being born with a small head circumference.

Two SRP Diabetes researchers will take part in a unique show to explore science through music, improvisation and art. The event takes place on November 24 and is organized by researchers from Karolinska Institutet.

On Friday December 6, 2019 Cecilia Radkiewicz defended her thesis "Sex differences in cancer risk and survival".

From Januari 1, 2020 SLL will charge KI employees using the gym facility in Norrbacka.

Twelve researchers at Karolinska Institutet qualify for the annual list of highly cited researchers compiled by Web of Science.

On 1 December the Department of Public Health Sciences will change name to the Department of Global Public Health to clarify the department’s work with global issues.

Karolinska Institutet strengthens its position in two recently published rankings of universities worldwide.

KI's internationalisation work was presented at the Internationalisation Days in Gothenburg November 5-6.

On November 12th, Cancerfonden granted 9 million sek to researchers at BioNut for their projects. The grants cover the years 2020-2022.

On Tuesday December 10, Gabriel Isheden will defend his thesis Statistical models of breast cancer tumour growth and spread".

Progeria is a very rare disease that affects about one in 18 million children and results in premature aging and death in adolescence from complications of cardiovascular disease. In a study on mice and human cells, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and IFOM, the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology in Italy, have identified how antisense oligonucleotide therapies could be used as a new possible treatment option for the disease. The results are published in Nature Communications.

The five-year Million Microbiome of Humans Project (MMHP) is now underway, as KI researchers begin leading the efforts to construct a genome atlas of the human microbiome.

On November 21, the IT Office will move the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology's shared folders (G:) to a new server. All existing documents on G: are moved with and the folder structure remains the same. Computers connected to the lab network will not be able to access G:.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, and this is often due to late detection, leading to the inability to receive curative treatment. Researchers from KI, Karolinska University Hospital and Umeå University have made strides in identifying pre-diagnostic symptoms and sensations of significance for the identification of primary lung cancer.

Children who have received radiotherapy for a brain tumour can develop cognitive problems later in life. In their studies on mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now shown that the drug lithium can help to reverse the damage caused long after it has occurred. The study is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry and the researchers are now planning to test the treatment in clinical trials.

The 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health took place from 30 October – 2 November 2019, in Hyderabad, India. The SPARKS Network was well represented at the conference with an in-person meeting held on 30 October at the Radisson Hyderabad Hitec Hotel and a symposium chaired by Professor Knut Lönnroth on 1 November.

Industrialist Fredrik Lundberg donates SEK 25 million to Karolinska Institutet. The donation goes to research on diseases of the aorta.

Those with a family history of schizophrenia and men with lower IQ are more likely to struggle with treatment resistant schizophrenia than others with the mental disorder, according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The researchers say the findings could be important in efforts to design novel drug treatments that improve cognition.

Children who suffer mild brain injury due to oxygen deprivation at birth normally do not receive cooling therapy to reduce the risk of permanent damage. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and University College Cork report that these children have significantly impaired cognitive outcomes at 2-3 years of age and therefore should be included in future clinical trials of neuroprotective therapies. The study is published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Hi Emelie Karlsson, PhD-student at the Division of Physiotherapy. On December 6 you will defend your thesis ”Well begun is half done: Preoperative Physical Performance and Home-based Exercise in Older Adults undergoing Abdominal Cancer Surgery”, what's the main focus of the thesis?

Three researchers from the Division of Innovative Care Research travelled to Australia along with Professor Rebecca Hilton, choreographer at the Stockholm University of the Arts, to present their work in the DöBra research program at the 6th Public Health Palliative Care International conference in the Blue Mountains, Australia.