News archive

Forced to flee as a child, today Elham Rostami saves lives in emergency situations – and conducts research to understand why some patients with brain injuries recover unexpectedly well. 

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH have developed a computational method that can reveal how cells change and specialise in the body. The study, which has been published in the journal PNAS, can provide important knowledge about why this process sometimes goes wrong and leads to disease.

During 1–10 December 2025, doctoral students participated in the hybrid doctoral course “Sustainable Health and the 2030 Agenda." The course provided students and early-stage researchers with an in-depth orientation to sustainable health within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the interconnections between the Sustainable Development Goals and global public health. The course will be given again in December 2026.

The 2025 Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi discovered how the immune system keeps itself in check, paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, MS and cancer. Before a packed Aula Medica, the trio described decades of challenges and successes that led to the world’s most coveted science prize.

During the past year, 33 lower secondary schools have assisted KI researchers in collecting soil samples from preschools across Sweden as part of the project Bakteriejakten. On 5 December, a final conference was held at the Nobel Prize Museum, featuring one of this year’s Nobel laureates, Fred Ramsdell.

When Oluwatobi (Tobi) Ayodele came to Sweden to start Karolinska Institutet's global Master's Programme in Health Economics, Policy and Management, he was prepared for challenges. But they were different from what he had thought from the beginning and they had unexpected results. Tobi Ayodele shares how what seemed limiting at first has actually changed his academic and professional goals and life outside the classroom for the better.

Congratulations to Åsa Carlsson Tedgren, who from 1 December 2025 joins the Department of Oncology-Pathology as adjunct professor.

KI researchers Carolina Hagberg and Jenny Mjösberg have been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant following a fiercely competitive application process. They will be using the money to further scientific knowledge about two major medical challenges: obesity-related cardiovascular disease and severe asthma.

High-resolution structures explain the mechanism of human PNPase and provide insights into mutations causing hereditary hearing loss and neurological disease.

How can we reduce the climate impact of consumption – from the food we eat to how we travel, live and shop? This question was at the heart of AIMday Sustainable Consumption, held on 3 December at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and organised by the University Alliance Stockholm Trio.

In October 2025, Karolinska Institutet launched a brand-new two-week course giving PhD students a unique insight into how advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), treatments based on cells, genes or tissues, are developed and manufactured.

Veijo Salo, new research group leader at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet has received SSMF (Svenska Sällskapet för Medicinsk Forskning) starting grant 2025.

Cecilia Ringborg, a postdoctoral researcher in the Surgical Care Science group, has been awarded the Cancer Association PALEMA’s project grant for young cancer researchers. She received SEK 25,000 and a diploma on September 26, when PALEMA, together with Karolinska Institutet and the National Register for Esophageal and Gastric Cancer (NREV), organised the full-day conference "Vägen framåt" (The path ahead).

Richard Rosenquist Brandell has been named Pharmaceutical Profile of the Year 2025 for his dedicated work in building a national infrastructure for precision medicine. The award is presented by Läkemedelsmarknaden in collaboration with Dagens Medicin and Dagens Industri.

Caroline Gahrton at the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), defends her thesis titled "Hepatitis C in people who inject drugs - prevalence, incidence, mortality, and treatment uptake", on 12 December 2025. Main supervisor is Soo Aleman (MedH).

Children who spend a significant amount of time on social media tend to experience a gradual decline in their ability to concentrate. This is according to a comprehensive study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Pediatrics Open Science, where researchers followed more than 8,000 children from around age 10 through age 14.

According to a new study, lower doses of approved immunotherapy for malignant melanoma can give better results against tumours, while reducing side effects. This is reported by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Nature Communications, reveals an unexpected role for immature glial cells known as oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in shaping the developing human brain.

A new international study published in The Lancet Oncology shows that artificial intelligence (AI) can be more accurate than experienced radiologists in detecting pancreatic cancer on computed tomography (CT) scans. The study is a collaboration between Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and the University of Bergen in Norway.

Congratulations to Linnea Hedin from the Department of Medicine, Huddinge who has been awarded a starting grant from the Swedish Research Council (VR).

Linnea is awarded SEK 6 000 000 for four years for the project "A digital lifestyle intervention in primary healthcare to prevent cardiovascular disease: Evaluating effectiveness, health economic aspects, and implementation in clinical practice".

Karin Dembrower was honored with this year's AI@KI Award for her outstanding contributions to the field of artificial intelligence in healthcare – not only through pioneering research, but also by successfully translating these innovations into clinical practice.

A Karolinska Institutet (KI) delegation led by KI Vice President Martin Bergö visited Hong Kong and mainland China in November to deepen academic partnerships and connection with KI alumni and to participate in a joint KI-SDU symposium.

Professor Sten Linnarsson, Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded a distinguished professor grant by the Swedish Research Council totalling just over SEK 30 million for the period 2026–2033.

Older adults with reduced kidney function show higher levels of Alzheimer’s-related biomarkers in the blood, but are not more likely to develop dementia, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet.

The Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) hosted their annual joint symposium in Stockholm on October 21–22, 2025, bringing together leading experts to strengthen high-level research collaboration.

A new study shows that visual and tactile impressions that are related to our own body are prioritised for reaching conscious awareness. This helps us understand how we develop the feeling that the body is our own – through the brain’s integration of what we see and what we feel.

One of the promising young researchers receiving Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation’s basic research grant this year is Camilla Engblom at the Department of Medicine, Solna. She will use the funding to study a piece of the puzzle that could help develop more precise and personalized treatments for cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.

A new study shows that children born preterm who are later diagnosed with autism often present with more extensive support needs and a higher number of co-occurring conditions than autistic children born at full term. Surprisingly, however, the researchers found no differences in genetic variants across the genome, nor in specific genes already linked to autism, between the groups – a result that contradicted their initial hypothesis.

Artificial Intelligence that detects breast cancer, enables medical imaging in low-resource countries and that identifies the patients who require advanced treatment even at the point of diagnosis – these are just a few examples of AI research at Karolinska Institutet that is impacting an entire world. Parts of this work were presented during the conference AI@KI, Advances in Artificial Intelligence at Karolinska Institutet, on 2 December.

A new edition of the book "Essential Guide to Blood Coagulation". The first edition was published in Swedish in 1997. Since 2010, the book has been published in English and has become a valued source of quick information about coagulation conditions, investigation and treatment.

This year, four young and promising researchers at KI have been selected to receive five-year basic research grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. This funding provides young researchers with the opportunity to contribute groundbreaking new knowledge by tackling long-term and difficult research questions.

In the United States, universities and independent research are under attack by the country’s president. “A similar trend is unfolding in several countries and could eventually affect Sweden too,” says Karolinska Institutet’s President.

What did we learn during the pandemic and how do we prepare for the next one? That was the theme when representatives from academia, healthcare, authorities, politics and media met during two intensive half-days to look back, but above all to look ahead. Most agreed that we have learned a lot and now have greater crisis awareness, but also that there is still much to do if we want to tackle the next health crisis even better.

After a spinal cord injury, cells in the brain and spinal cord change to cope with stress and repair tissue. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Nature Neuroscience, shows that this response is controlled by specific DNA sequences. This knowledge could help develop more targeted treatments.

How do everyday health issues affect new blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease? A study from Karolinska Institutet, in Alzheimer's & Dementia, suggests that factors like kidney function, cholesterol, and diabetes can influence some of these biomarkers—though the most promising marker remains reliable.

The popular NeurotechEU Internship Program at the University of Bonn is returning in the Summer of 2026 — and KI bachelor's and master's students can now apply!

Jinghua Wu from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) defends her thesis titled "Functional studies of pathogen-specific T cell responses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia", on 5 December, 2025. Main supervisor is Marcus Buggert (MedH).

Cecilia Radkiewicz was appointed docent in Cancer and Oncology on November 18, 2025.
She combines a postdoctoral position in Professor Jesper Lagergren’s research group for upper gastrointestinal surgery at Karolinska Institutet with clinical work as Associate Senior Physician in Oncology at Capio Sankt Göran’s Hospital.

Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and Region Stockholm intend to establish a new centre for medical radiation science in Stockholm. By combining the universities' cutting-edge expertise in key research areas with healthcare sector expertise, it is a gathering of forces to develop the cancer treatment of the future.

Bahira Shahim, researcher and cardiologist at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, has been awarded the annual SEK six million Prince Daniel’s Grant for Promising Young Researchers by the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation. Her work has the potential to change the way of treating a common heart valve disease, which can cause sudden cardiac death and heart failure.

On 25 November, the eleven master's students who were awarded KI scholarships for the global master's programmes were celebrated at a ceremony in Aula Medica. KI's president Annika Östman Wernerson gave a speech, and the programme managers also took part in the ceremony.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan have identified two receptors in the brain that control the breakdown of amyloid beta, a substance that accumulates in Alzheimer’s disease. According to the researchers, the study could pave the way for future drugs that are both safer and cheaper than current antibody treatments.

High-intensity interval training boosts fitness and muscle endurance more effectively than traditional home exercise programmes in people recently diagnosed with inflammatory muscle disease. That is the conclusion of a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in eBioMedicine.

The InFuturum meeting in Stockholm gathers together Sweden’s seven ALF regions for a discussion on the future of education, research and care with a focus on common challenges, from health data to changing global trends.

Gonçalo Castelo-Branco and Sten Linnarsson from the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics are on the Clarivate list of highly cited researchers in 2025.

As part of the Swedish government’s long-term strategy and action plan to counteract and reduce virus outbreaks and pandemics, the Swedish Research Council is undergoing a ten-year national research programme in Viruses and Pandemics. In the latest funding round, researchers at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, have been granted over 20 million SEK.

It is not only the brain that is governed by a sophisticated network of nerves – the gut is too. And the gut can influence our mental wellbeing – just as the mind can affect the gut. Researchers are now exploring how psychological treatments such as CBT and hypnosis can ease digestive problems, and whether gut bacteria might even shape how the brain works.

A new test shows promising results for detecting latent tuberculosis infection in resource-limited settings. This is according to a study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

In October 2025, the Faculty Board decided to allocate funding to NVS in a university-wide initiative to promote collaboration between environments with either a strong research profile or a strong education profile. Three of the department’s study programmes have been granted funding under this initiative.

Welcome to Andreas Rödlund's presentation of his thesis ”Understanding implementation mechanisms : a cluster-randomized controlled trial in schools”.