News archive

When Per Uhlén was fourteen, he ended up in a wheelchair. Since then, he has become a professor, started three companies, and competed in two Paralympic Games. “Sometimes I feel like my life is a film,” he says.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet challenges previous findings that suggested early surgery is more beneficial in the long term than medical treatment for patients with Crohn’s disease. The study replicates a Danish registry study using Swedish data and finds that the results are not comparable. The study was published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Among young people, the use of sleep medication has increased sharply – despite ongoing questions about the drugs’ effectiveness and long-term impact. Researchers now recommend psychological treatment instead.

Restaurant Jöns Jacob will be closed for renovations during the autumn semester of 2025. During this period, the microwave area (Mikrotorget) has been temporarily relocated to the entrance hall of the BZ building at Berzelius väg 3, in the former premises of the Medical Bookstore.

A majority of individuals with psychotic disorders who died by suicide in Stockholm County in 2015 had extensive contact with healthcare services and expressed psychosocial difficulties shortly before their deaths. This is revealed in a medical record review study conducted by Region Stockholm and Karolinska Institutet.

Flavoured drinks without sugar can be perceived as sweet – and now researchers know why. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Nature Communications, reveals that the brain interprets certain aromas as taste.

It is the spread of tumours, metastases, which is the usual cause of cancer-related death. Jonas Fuxe researchers the mechanisms driving this process, with a focus on how cancer cells interact with their surroundings and mutate in order to take new paths. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Marcus Skribek, postdoc at the Department of Oncology-Pathology and clinical oncologist at Karolinska University Hospital, has been awarded the 2024 Dan Grandér Research Prize for his thesis “Strategies for Optimizing Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer”. The prize is presented annually to the best doctoral thesis in cancer research at Karolinska Institutet.

Thirty Nordic ageing and health researchers will gather in Stockholm on 11–12 September 2025 for the SIA joint senior and junior workshop. Hosted by the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet, this event brings together established and early-career experts to foster discussion and collaboration on social inequalities in ageing.

Once again, the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet (KI) will host the course titled "Societal and Life-course Perspectives on Inequalities in Aging" this fall semester. The course is arranged in partnership with the Swedish National Graduate School on Ageing and Health (SWEAH, Lund University) and brings together students from various universities throughout Sweden.

Attacks on healthcare are dramatically increasing in conflicts and wars around the world. The Centre for Health Crises continues to highlight this development. On 9 September, KI researchers Märit Halmin and Johan von Schreeb, together with representatives from Médecins Sans Frontières, the Swedish Medical Association, and the Swedish Association of Health Professionals, participated in a meeting at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to urge Sweden to take clear international responsibility.

Pontus Naucler is hoping to improve the treatment of severe infections while reducing the development of antibiotic resistance by combining data from registries and medical records with AI and clinical studies to make antibiotic treatments more precise. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Karolinska Institutet's record-breaking international recruitment of 20 assistant professors focused on excellence has been a great success. With over 2,700 applications from 1,560 researchers in 89 countries, the initiative has had an impact that strengthens KI's position as one of Europe's most attractive medical universities.

Today marks World Suicide Prevention Day, an annual event since 2003 aimed at raising awareness about suicide and promoting prevention efforts. Initiated by the WHO and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), the day encourages global dialogue and action to reduce stigma and support mental health.

The stage in Erling Persson Hall was brightly decorated with balloons and flowers as around 400 master’s students gathered to take part in the ceremony on 29 August. Hosts Gottfrid Rehnman and Gabriela Kazmierczak guided the audience through the programme with warmth, humour, and anecdotes from their own time as KI students.

Ronny Wickström researches autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in the child brain. At present his focus is on prolonged cases of status epilepticus, a life-threatening condition that does not respond to epilepsy medicine. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

It is not only premature babies and children with underlying diseases who suffer from serious respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections. Even healthy, full-term babies are at significant risk of intensive care or prolonged hospitalisation – especially during the first three months of life. This is according to a comprehensive registry study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

The Nordic Health Crises University Network (HealthCrisNet) gathered for its first-ever meeting in Reykjavík, Iceland, from 27–29 August 2025. Established earlier this year with funding from NordForsk, the network brings together universities from across the Nordic region to strengthen preparedness and resilience in the face of health crises.

Every year, approximately 2,500 patients in Sweden suffer a cardiac arrest at a hospital, from which only one in every three survive. Therese Djärv wants to unpack why these events occur and how they can be prevented. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Xinxin Luo, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Medicine, Solna, has been awarded the Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize 2025. The prize of USD 10,000 is intended for recent PhD graduates or doctoral students in their final year of doctoral studies. The aim is to encourage young, promising researchers. Xinxin Luo is recognised for her research on how inflammation, tissue damage and healing processes interact in the intestine.

On September 2, 2025, seven physicians, five occupational therapists, and five physiotherapists were awarded diplomas by H.M. The Queen during a formal ceremony at Drottningholm Court Theatre. The ceremony marked the completion of the Master's courses in dementia care developed by Karolinska Institutet in close collaboration with Stiftelsen Silviahemmet. The participants may now use the titles Silvia Physician, Silvia Occupational Therapist, and Silvia Physiotherapist.

Chronic pain in the jaws and face affects people of all ages and can severely impair their quality of life, work capacity and mental health. Nikolaos Christidis is looking for answers as to what causes the pain and ways to help improve treatments. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Researchers from across the Asia-Pacific region met in Jinan, China, on 7–8 June 2025 at the World-Wide FINGERS Network meeting, to share new ideas on how to help prevent dementia and memory loss. Over 50 researchers and students from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Sweden, and China took part in the event.

Untreated atrial fibrillation increases the risk of serious complications such as stroke, heart failure and dementia. Johan Engdahl is researching how doctors can be better at detecting atrial fibrillation so that patients can be treated in time. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

The Karolinska ATMP Center — a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Karolinska University Hospital — and St. Erik Eye Hospital have signed a letter of intent to strengthen their partnership in research, development, and clinical trials of cell- and gene-based medicines, known as Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). The goal is to accelerate the transition from research to clinical application, particularly for retinal diseases that currently lack effective treatments.

Marianne van Hage, professor at Karolinska Institutet, has received Europe’s most prestigious research award in allergy – the Paul Ehrlich Prize. She is the first Swede ever to receive the award, thanks to her groundbreaking research in molecular allergology and on the tick-induced food allergy, the alpha-Gal syndrome.

Erik Benson and Arvid Guterstam, both assistant professors at Karolinska Institutet, have been awarded the prestigious ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council. With the grant, they will have the opportunity to realise groundbreaking research projects in DNA nanotechnology for improved drug delivery, and the brain's social functions that may be of great importance for future diagnosis and understanding of autism.

Ill-health linked to sedentary lifestyles and poor diets is a growing problem. Ylva Trolle Lagerros develops apps designed to help people make more healthy everyday life choices. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Young people have a nuanced view of how their digital lives affect their mental health and want more support and involvement from the adults around them. This is shown in an international study published in The Journal of Adolescent Health by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with UNICEF.

Voice problems are common among teachers and others who use their voice extensively in their work. A new research project, funded by FORTE, will develop methods to prevent these problems and strengthen working capacity.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found that individuals with cluster headache have symptoms of insomnia and poor sleep quality in an active headache period, and sleep is not restored during headache-free periods. The results were recently published in Headache: the Journal of Head and Face Pain.

A new thesis from Karolinska Institutet focuses on advanced statistical methods to better predict long-term patient outcomes, supporting healthcare decision-making. The application focused on chronic myeloid leukemia with the goal to inform clinical and policy insights.

Schizophrenia is a disease that causes great suffering, but today’s methods of treatment are inadequate in dealing with it. Jens Hjerling-Leffler studies what happens in the brain during the phase of life in which the disease often debuts in the hope of promoting the development of more effective drugs. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Karolinska Institutet is recruiting 20 Assistant Professors with a focus on excellence and mobility. As one of the world’s leading medical universities, KI offers fully developed research infrastructure, exchanges with other pre-eminent researchers, secure financing for pioneering research and support to make sure accompanying family members also feel at home.

She suffered from recurring fractures. But today, Vera Berg leads an active life thanks to medication for osteoporosis

Regular exercise, balance training and a healthy, varied diet can reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis.

Can osteoporosis be detected in images taken for purposes other than fractures? According to radiologist Torkel Brismar, the answer is yes. He has explored this question in several studies.

A common yet seriously undertreated condition, osteoporosis, is a widespread condition where the healthcare system often falls short. Researchers are now investigating why so many patients slip through the cracks and miss out on treatment that could prevent further serious fractures. The long-term goal is to offer treatment even before the first fracture occurs.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a vulnerability in certain blood cancer cells that makes it possible to eliminate the cancer cells with a drug, without harming healthy cells. The study is published in the scientific journal Leukemia.

Visual disorders following acquired brain injury are common and affect a person’s everyday activities and quality of life. Tony Pansell is exploring how vision can be improved again – with the help of visual rehabilitation. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

From the spring semester of 2026, Karolinska Institutet will offer a new commissioned education course in gynaecology for nurses.

When older people have more than one chronic disease at the same time, this is called multimorbidity – a rapidly growing challenge for the healthcare sector as the population ages. In spite of this, multimorbidity has long been ignored in global public health research. A new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) now turns the spotlight on the problem.

We are delighted to share some of the many important reflections from the NKG2024 congress held in Stockholm in June 2024, in the form of a newly published perspective paper entitled "Ageing in a Transforming World: Insights for Future Research and Policy from the 27th Nordic Congress of Gerontology".

Dual antiplatelet therapy after cardiac bypass surgery is no more effective than acetylsalicylic acid alone and also increases the risk of serious bleeding. This is shown in a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Gothenburg published in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine.

In a pilot project within the course Biomedical Communication, students have tackled the complex issue of antibiotic resistance (AMR) through gamification. When the AMR Knowledge Space Game was integrated into the curriculum, the response from both teachers and students was overwhelmingly positive. With the success of the pilot, the interactive game may become part of future courses and educational research at Karolinska Institutet (KI).

We are proud to welcome Professor Stefano Guerra to KI SÖS during the upcoming semester. Stefano joins us on a Fulbright scholarship, and we are excited to host him and benefit from his expertise during his time here.

Palliative medicine is a young field of research, and there are few well-made clinical studies. Linda Björkhem-Bergman hopes to answer such questions as how vitamin D affects the patients’ immune system and symptoms. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Not all acute myocardial infarction patients should be offered routine screening for the stomach ulcer bacterium Helicobacter pylori. However, it is possible that some patient groups with an elevated risk of post-infarction gastrointestinal bleeding benefit from such a test, concludes a large-scale study from Karolinska Institutet and Södersjukhuset published in the journal JAMA.

The Aging Research Center (ARC) had the privilege of hosting a symposium that brought together leading scholars to celebrate the remarkable contributions of Professor Johan Fritzell to research on social policy, inequalities, and health over the course of his career.

Fatty liver results from overweight and obesity and it is a common disease leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Stefano Romeo is investigating the genetic basis of the diseases to identify novel therapeutic strategies. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.