News archive

During a well-attended seminar at The Cell, leading politicians, including Minister Lotta Edholm, and researchers gathered for talks about crisis preparedness, what it takes to build a resilient society and about the universities' important role in this work. The seminar was organised by the University Alliance Stockholm Trio, where KI is a member, and Stockholm Science City.

How we engage our brains while sitting for long periods may affect cognitive health later in life. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, shows that adults who spend most of their sedentary time on mentally passive activities, such as watching TV, face a higher risk of developing dementia. By contrast, brain-stimulating sedentary activities, such as reading, appear to reduce the risk.

A group of senior leaders from Flemish organisations working with older people (In4Care) visited the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet on 25 March 2026. The visit, hosted by the Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care (TraCeDem), focused on how research, policy and care practice interact within the Swedish system.

Factors in the blood of patients with dermatomyositis can impair muscle function by activating a specific inflammatory pathway. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The results suggest that drugs that block this signalling could counteract muscle weakness.

With the publication of the QS World University Rankings by Subject for 2026, KI retains its position among the world’s and Europe’s leading universities. Among other things, KI regains the top spot globally in “Dentistry” and retains its position as the EU’s leading medical university.

The application deadline for the Summer School in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback has been extended. Taking place from 21 May to 17 June 2026, this 4 ECTS Blended Intensive Programme combines online and on-site learning, focusing on applied psychophysiology, heart rate variability (HRV), self-regulation, and biofeedback. This course is organized by Reykjavik University, in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet and Radboud University.

Entrepreneur and inventor Leif Lundblad (1938–2025) has bequeathed SEK 538 million to Karolinska Institutet, the largest donation ever to have been made to a Swedish university in modern times. Much of the sum will go towards research on dementia diseases.

After almost two months on the medical programme, Ebbali Ekehammar sums up her start at KI as intense, rewarding and, above all, really fun. Here she shares what has surprised her, what has been most challenging, and how she manages it.

Digital CBT treatment reduced cardiac-related anxiety and improved patients' quality of life and physical function after a heart attack. This is shown in a new randomised study published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, in which researchers at Karolinska Institutet compared digital CBT with standard care.

Welcome to Anna Frantz presentation of her thesis ”A problem-solving intervention among employees with mental health problems : effects, predictors and experiences”.

Living with a dog does not seem to worsen long‑term asthma severity in children with allergic asthma, but may increase the risk of asthma exacerbations slightly, according to a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that has been published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: Global.

Anna Embring has been appointed docent in cancer and oncology at Karolinska Institutet. She is based at the Department of Oncology Pathology and is a member of the Clinical radiotherapy research group, led by Åsa Carlsson Tedgren. She also works as a specialist physician in oncology with a focus on radiotherapy at Karolinska University Hospital.

On 19 March, HM The Queen presented research grants from the King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria Freemason Foundation, which supports research on ageing in the areas of neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and nursing research.

Early treatment for rheumatoid arthritis leads to significant improvements in pain, fatigue, and quality of life — regardless of whether patients receive biologic drugs or conventional therapy. This is shown by a new international study which was led from Karolinska Institutet, and recently published in The Lancet Rheumatology. Biologic drugs provided slightly greater improvements, but the differences between treatments were small.

Clinical researchers Drs Hanna Brauner and Nikolas Herold appreciated collaborating as research leaders on equal terms, because it gives the best ideas the greatest room to flourish. Their project via Karolinska Institutet’s research incubator has the potential to improve the treatment of skin (cutaneous) lymphoma.

In the intersection between the two KIRI fellows Claudia Kutter’s and Erdinc Sezgin’s research fields, new knowledge emerged about a rare genetic disease. Today, the two research groups collaborate closely, and both leaders point up the important role played by postdocs.

The Karolinska Institutet Research Incubator (KIRI) is where young researchers meet each other across disciplines and in the collaborations that arise, the foundations for pioneering research breakthroughs are laid. After the four years of its existence, KIRI is now seeing its first cohort of KIRI Fellows.

Fathers in Sweden are less likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis during their partner’s pregnancy and in the months following the birth of their child. However, diagnoses of depression and stress-related disorders increase a year later, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Sichuan University in China.

Children living with obesity but showing no signs of metabolic complications still have a significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and abnormal blood lipid levels later in life. A new study from the Karolinska Institutet, published in JAMA Pediatrics, also shows that these children benefit greatly from obesity treatment.

Seven researchers at the Department of Oncology‑Pathology (OnkPat) have been awarded funding in the Swedish Cancer Society’s 2026 call. In total, 26 researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded funding as part of the Swedish Cancer Society’s 2026 call, which totals SEK 135 million. The call also includes research schools, one of which is affiliated with OnkPat.

Malin Granbom Koski receives the Swedish Medical Association's Candidate and Junior Physician Association's Asklepios Prize for best scientific article 2025. The study presents clinically significant findings and provides important information for how doctors can assess patients' risks before interventions on the aorta and aortic valve.

The Swedish Cancer Foundation supports young researchers early in their careers by funding research positions that make it possible to combine clinical work with research. We congratulate Christel Hedman, Mirna Abraham-Nordling and Fredrik Jäderling who receive support from the Swedish Cancer Foundation in the 2026 call.

Niek van Bree, previously a doctoral student at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the 2025 Dan Grandér Research Prize for his thesis “Development of Translational Models and Identification of Novel Therapeutic Targets for Medulloblastoma”. This annual award recognises the best doctoral thesis in cancer research at Karolinska Institutet.

Although people in Japan tend to live long lives, this does not necessarily mean they are healthier than other populations. New research from Karolinska Institutet and collaborators shows that Japanese and Swedish older adults have a similar number of healthy life years – if ‘healthy’ is defined as living at home without the need for formal elder care. However, mortality among individuals receiving elder care is lower in Japan than in Sweden.

Karolinska Institutet has appointed Professor Karin Dahlman-Wright as director of KI’s new research infrastructure organisation, RIKI, with effect from 1 April. RIKI provides the tools, methods, technologies and networks that researchers need in their work.

The KI Housing office will be closed for the Easter holidays from lunchtime on April 2 through April 6.

Meis Omran has been awarded the Pfizer and Swedish Society of Oncology (SOF) postdoctoral research fellowship. The SEK 250,000 award supports her study exploring how patients with a hereditary risk of cancer experience the transition from paediatric to adult healthcare.

Genetic markers may be the key to more precise surveillance programs for individuals with the hereditary cancer syndrome Li-Fraumeni. In a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, Alexander Sun Zhang shows how tailored follow-up strategies can reduce the burden on patients, particularly children. These findings have already influenced the Swedish national guidelines.

Older people with a genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease did not experience the expected increase in cognitive decline and dementia risk if they consumed relatively large amounts of meat. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Network Open. The results may contribute to the development of more individually tailored dietary advice.

Karolinska Institutet is recognising three students who, during the academic year 2024/2025, have offered particularly engaging accounts of their international experiences.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have created the first detailed map showing how genetic activity is controlled in individual cells of the adult human brain and spinal cord. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, show that oligodendroglia, the cells that form the brain’s insulating myelin, retain an “epigenetic memory” of developmental programs long after these genes are no longer active.

GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs, commonly used to treat diabetes and obesity, are associated with a reduced need for hospital care and sickness absence due to mental ill-health in people with depression or anxiety. This is according to a large, register-based study published in The Lancet Psychiatry by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the University of Eastern Finland, and Griffith University in Australia.

A new method makes it possible to generate gene-targeted CAR-T cells inside the body to attack tumours, report researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in Nature. The study demonstrates that several types of cancer in mice can be treated without the immune cells needing to be extracted and processed in a laboratory.

Karolinska Institutet is launching the KI Pedagogical Fund–supported project Teaching for Tomorrow (TfT): Equipping teachers to prepare future ready KI students through integration of Agenda 2030, an initiative designed to strengthen educators’ capacity to design inclusive, equitable, and sustainability aligned curricula across the health and life sciences.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified an epigenetic mechanism that allows the brain’s own immune cells to counteract glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. By reducing the activity of a specific enzyme in these immune cells, tumour growth was slowed in animal models.

Treating insulin resistance before a stroke may be more important for recovery than lowering blood sugar. This is shown by a new study on mice from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Diabetes. The results suggest that low-grade inflammation may be a contributing factor.

This spring, University Alliance Stockholm Trio is organising a webinar on research ethics and AI, with the title "What Counts as Responsible Research in the Age of Generative AI? Norms, Limits, and Governance".

The study “Reducing MRI Use in Organised Prostate Cancer Testing Using Blood-Based Biomarkers - the OPT Stockholm3 Study” (Falagario et al.) from Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm has been awarded First Prize for Best Oncology Abstract at the 41st Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology (EAU) in London 2026.

A private donation from Sally Cahill, USA, to researchers at Karolinska Institutet could make a new treatment for severe rheumatoid arthritis a reality. The method, which involves stimulating a nerve in the ear with a weak electric signal, has so far delivered promising results.

Are you studying medicine, biomedicine, or life sciences at KI and curious about the future of brain research?

Karolinska ATMP Center, a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, has opened a new mRNA infrastructure at the pre-GMP facility on the Flemingsberg campus. This environment provides researchers and clinicians with the opportunity to produce mRNA and formulate it in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for research purposes.

The Unit for Teaching and Learning (UoL) welcomed colleagues from the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA) - Ana Luiza Pires de Freitas, Associate Professor and UFCSPA Internationalisation at Home Coordinator, and Daniela Levandowski, Associate Professor and General Coordinator of the UFCSPA postgraduate programmes - from 9th to 13th March 2026.

Hanne Åström from the Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit (GUT), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), is defending her thesis with the title "Epidemiological aspects of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease", on 20 mars 2026. Main supervisor is Hannes Hagström.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a rapid and cost efficient sequencing method that can identify antibiotic resistance within the same working day. The technique, called s5PSeq, measures how bacterial ribosomes respond within minutes after exposure to an antibiotic, offering a molecular readout of growth instead of waiting for traditional cultures.

“Journées CORTICO 2026”, the symposium in the fields of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI), Neurotechnology and Cognitive Neuroscience, will take place on May 18-20, 2026, at the University of Lille, France.

A new research initiative at Karolinska Institutet aims to understand how chronic pain arises and how it might be switched off at its source. The project, “A Game-Changing Therapy for Lasting Pain Relief”, has now received support from the Promobilia Foundation.

Simple field-based tests of muscle strength can provide early clues about the risk of developing several long-term illnesses. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

For neurodivergent people, noise and crowding can become decisive obstacles. Mo Sarraf studies how cities can be planned to better accommodate these needs.

Many women with breast cancer receive endocrine therapy, also known as anti-hormonal therapy, to reduce the risk of the disease returning. However, for a significant group, the treatment does not work as intended. A new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet maps tumours from patients who have experienced a relapse in their disease despite ongoing endocrine therapy, to understand why the treatment fails and how these patients can be identified earlier.

Patients with experience of self-admission describe increased autonomy, improved conditions for recovery and reduced strain in relationships with relatives. They also report that access to self-admission provides a greater sense of security and greater room for manoeuvre in everyday life. This is shown in a new study from the Centre for Psychiatry Research at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Region Stockholm.