News archive

The late-summer sun shone down on Stockholm as Karolinska Institutet took part in this year’s Pride parade on 1 August. Together with KI President Annika Östman Wernerson, students, staff and alumni, the parade once again filled the streets with colour and enthusiasm during what was perhaps the most inclusive celebration of the year. The tragedy in Berlin cast a sombre shadow over the parade, serving as a reminder of why the event is so important.

In the rare disease progeria, blood vessels deteriorate prematurely. A study from Karolinska Institutet shows how different cell types in the vascular wall undergo progressive changes and accumulate mutations over time. The findings are published in the journal Genome Medicine.

The universities of Bonn, Reykjavík and Radboud are pleased to invite applications for the Joint NeurotechEU Business Winter School - From Research to use case: Translating neurotechnology into real-world impact.

The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) is pleased to announce the 3rd edition of the School on preclinical magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. It will take place from October 21-23, 2026, at the UMH campus in Sant Joan d’Alacant (Spain).

Young people with ADHD are more likely to visit youth clinics than their peers, while autistic individuals are less likely to do so. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Autism Research. The results also suggest that digital healthcare consultations could help reduce these disparities.

As the 26th International AIDS Conference opens in Rio de Janeiro, Karolinska Institutet will be represented in an innovative global initiative that brings together science, art and public engagement. The exhibition HIV Unwrapped pairs leading HIV researchers with emerging fashion designers to transform complex scientific concepts into wearable works of art.

The NeurotechEU Winter School on Smart Sleep, organised by the Medical University of Innsbruck, will take place from 15th to 18th February 2027 at the MUI campus in Innsbruck, Austria.

Juliette Foucher, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, has been selected as one of only three recipients worldwide of the 2026 ALS Scholars in Therapeutics grant. The international grant, totalling 300,000 dollars, equivalent to SEK three million, recognises promising young researchers who are shaping the future of ALS research.

Professor Gonçalo Castelo-Branco and Professor Janne Lehtiö at KI have been awarded funding under the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and SciLifeLab’s Proof-of-Concept Program. The aim of the program is to strengthen the pathway from academic research to innovation and commercial application in life science.

Professor Miia Kivipelto and other researchers at Karolinska Institutet have contributed to the development of the World Health Organization’s updated guidelines on reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. The recommendations provide countries with an evidence-based framework for prevention and could help address risk factors associated with up to 45 per cent of dementia cases worldwide.

The amount of time Swedish teenagers spent on social media could not be linked to symptoms of depression or anxiety five years later, in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Helena Karlström, senior lecturer and associate professor at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded a Pioneer Innovator Grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation worth approximately SEK 1.7 million. The project aims to develop a new antibody-based treatment for the inherited cerebrovascular disorder CADASIL, a form of cerebral small vessel disease which is a common cause of, amongst other things, stroke and eventually memory problems, for which there is currently no effective treatment.

People with metabolic syndrome tend to have brains that appear older than their actual age, according to a new study published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. The new findings provide fresh insights into the biological processes that may link metabolic health to the brain.

At the beginning of July, Maja Fjaestad took part as a representative of the Centre for Health Crises at KI in the European Commission’s Implementation Dialogue on health crisis preparedness. It was a high-level meeting led by Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, who is responsible for crisis preparedness. The meeting focused on how the EU can better prepare for future health crises and aims to compile recommendations for the European Commission.

Sudden unexpected postnatal collapse during the first week of life is rare but can have deleterious consequenses. A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that the condition is more common than previously estimated and highlights measures that may reduce the risk.

The Erasmus Mundus programme Public Health in Disasters provided former student Daniel with the means to put his experiences from the pandemic into an academic context and propel his career to a move from being a doctor in an emergency room in Spain, to working with disaster preparedness and response at an EU level. Looking back, he is still impressed with the quality of the programme and the support he found at KI to develop, especially his research skills.

Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide, yet current treatments often only ease symptoms rather than addressing the underlying causes. Now, Karolinska Institutet researcher Saida Hadjab has received a second prestigious grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to develop a new type of therapy that could help reverse the biological processes that drive persistent pain.

Several tools are currently used to assess the health of older people and their risk of future health problems, but it is unclear which ones perform best. A new study published in BMC Medicine, compares seven widely used geriatric assessment tools. The results show that a relatively simple tool developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet – can be just as reliable as more advanced and comprehensive approaches.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Kyoto University in Japan have identified new subgroups of the blood cancer acute myeloid leukaemia. The study, published in the journal Nature, shows that changes in the regulation of genes within cells can help explain the variation in the disease and influence prognosis and treatment choices.

Prinka Singh says she would encourage anyone who is interested in public health, disaster management, or humanitarian work to apply to the Public Health in Disasters master programme – KI’s only Erasmus Mundus Master programme:

Juan Pablo Lopez, Assistant Professor at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, has been selected as a 2026 FENS-Kavli Scholar, a distinction awarded to a small group of outstanding early- to mid-career neuroscientists across Europe.

Drowning is a much bigger problem in Sweden than many people realise. The Centre for Drowning Research is established at Karolinska Institutet to consolidate knowledge and help reduce the number of people injured or killed in water-related incidents.

Anna Winther is one of three KI doctoral students to have been awarded this year’s Kerstin Hejdenberg Scholarship from the Asthma and Allergy Association’s Research Fund. She receives the scholarship for a research project on how eczema may affect school results, higher education, career choices and sick leave.

On 9 June 2026, a clear milestone marked the end of a long era in Swedish medical education when the final cohort from the 5.5-year Study Programme in Medicine at Karolinska Institutet graduated. At Aula Medica, both current and former staff gathered to recognise an educational model that for decades has shaped a large part of the country’s medical profession.

Matthias Löhr, Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology – CLINTEC, has been awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) for his long-standing and significant contributions to pancreatic research and clinical development.

Children whose mothers have congenital heart defects are more likely to experience difficulties in areas such as language, communication and social skills when they start school. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet and the University of British Columbia, published in PLOS Medicine.

A prostate cancer research initiative in Sweden has been made possible by a donation from the entrepreneur and inventor Björn Gysell. The investment will enable Karolinska Institutet’s leading research environment in prostate cancer to develop the next generation diagnostics and therapies using AI, genomics and precision medicine.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have uncovered how serotonin-related metabolism helps regulate a under studied immune cell involved in allergic inflammation. The study, published in the journal Allergy, adds new knowledge about how allergic immune responses may be maintained over time.

MedH researchers Christina Alexandrou and Marie Löf, together with their co-authors, have been awarded the Best Cited RCT 2023 prize by the highly regarded journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (IJBNPA).

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have demonstrated that it is possible to create early germ cells from preserved testicular tissue of young boys facing cancer therapy. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction Open, may eventually contribute to new ways of protecting and restoring fertility after childhood cancer.

Every year, the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association’s Research Fund awards the Kerstin Hejdenberg Scholarship to doctoral students conducting research on allergic diseases in children. This year, three of the scholarship recipients are affiliated with Karolinska Institutet.

Exhaust emissions from kerosene‑powered aircraft contain ultrafine particles and several substances that are known or suspected to be carcinogenic. They should therefore be classified as presumed carcinogenic to humans.

StratNeuro has established a Student Council to strengthen the connection between StratNeuro and the neuroscience PhD students at KI. This initiative was presented at the PhD Student Day at the StratNeuro Retreat 2026.

The StratNeuro community gathered once again at Djurönäset on June 3rd-5th for three days of scientific presentations, discussions, workshops, and networking.

In cases of serious aortic valve disease, choosing a new heart valve is particularly difficult for young women who wish to become pregnant. A new Swedish registry study from Karolinska Institutet shows that a biological aortic valve provides good pregnancy and birth outcomes, even though the need for reoperation is more common than with a mechanical valve. The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

Matthew Hunt at Karolinska Institutet is one of the recipients of the IBSA Foundation Fellowships 2025. He is awarded the fellowship for a research project on new treatment strategies for aggressive skin cancer.

We congratulate researchers at CNS who have been awarded CIMED project grants for the period 2027-2029.

Emma R. Andersson has been awarded the prestigious ERC Proof of Concept Grant to further develop her technique to create mice with specific genetic signatures. “This innovation can lead to a drastic reduction in the number of animal experiments worldwide, not just in my lab,” she says.

Karolinska Institutet is leading the HELIX project, which has received SEK 10 million from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) to build a long-term, scalable joint platform between Sweden and Brazil in life science and health.

Seven out of eight awarded grants go to researchers at Karolinska Institutet in the Swedish Research Council's spring call for international postdocs in medicine and health. In total, 8 out of 44 applications were approved.

The rapid advancement of AI in medical research is increasing the need for coordination. Karolinska Institutet is therefore funding a cross-institutional AI network that brings together researchers, clinicians and experts, coordinates initiatives, and provides support for reliable and clinically relevant AI.

How do autistic people and their relatives view genetic research? A study published in the journal Autism shows broad support, but also clear concerns about issues such as discrimination and eugenics.
"When my colleagues and I asked autistic people and parents of autistic children in Sweden how they feel about genetic research in autism, one response stood out: ‘I hope genetic research finds new ways to help us, not erase us,’" says Samuelle Fajutrao Falk, researcher at Karolinska Institutet.

From June 29 to August 17, KI Housing will have limited staff on duty so there may be a delay in answering emails and handling of maintenance requests. Urgent email questions and maintenance requests will be prioritized during this period.

The amount and distribution of the tau protein in the brain differs between early and late-onset Alzheimer's disease. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. The results also indicate that blood tests do not always reflect changes in the brain.

A healthier diet may be associated with a lower risk of dementia among older adults, including those with blood biomarkers indicating an increased biological risk of Alzheimer's disease pathology. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Network Open.

The National centre for suicide research and prevention (NASP) has published a new annual report that provides an overview of suicide statistics for Sweden as a whole and for the country’s 21 counties. The report focuses on the 15-year period 2010–2024 and includes more detailed statistics for municipalities in Stockholm County.

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet report that the molecular machinery responsible for cellular energy conversion is more interconnected than previously understood, shedding light on how mitochondria adapt under stress.

For one intensive week in June 2026, 33 emerging health leaders from around the world gathered in Sigtuna, Sweden, for the masterclass of the Executive Programme in International Politics and Diplomacy for Health. The programme is jointly run by Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm School of Economics and aims to equip emerging health leaders with the skills needed to navigate the complex political processes that shape global health.

An early clinical study shows that a new oral drug is safe and well-tolerated in patients with chronic heart failure. The study, led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, has been published in the scientific journal The Lancet.

In this year's call for CIMED project grants, seven grants were awarded to NVS: five to junior researchers and two to senior researchers.