News archive

At its meeting of 30 September, the Karolinska Institutet University Board decided that the Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine (MWLC), KI’s research centre in Hong Kong, is to close at the turn of 2023/2024.

Professor Danuta Wasserman, the fouder and current head of department for National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health, was given the honor to give the opening keynote lecture at the 9th World Congress on Women's Mental Health.

Researchers at Karolinska have uncovered how brain circuits encode the start, duration and sudden change of speed of locomotion. The study is published in Neuron.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified the bacteria most commonly found in severe oral infections. Few such studies have been done before, and the team now hopes that the study can provide deeper insight into the association between oral bacteria and other diseases. The study is published in Microbiology Spectrum.

Karolinska Institutet's programme of study is expanding. From autumn 2023, KI will offer a new Master's Programme in Biomedical Laboratory Science. The programme is given in Swedish and aimed at working professionals.

Zhao Cheng at the Surgical Care Science research group, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Outcomes of surgery for oesophageal cancer with focus on fatigue" on November 29, 2022.
Main Supervisor is Pernilla Lagergren.

On November 9, 2022, the Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet decided on the allocation of funding for positions as Assistant Professor, Senior Research Specialist/Principal Researcher and Consolidator grants for researchers already employed by KI. One researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition received funding as Senior Research Specialist.

By measuring immune cells in the cerebrospinal fluid when diagnosing ALS, it is possible to predict how fast the disease may progress according to a study from Karolinska Institutet published in Nature Communications.

We congratulate David Marlevi at the Clinical Physiology Research Group, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, who is one of three researchers at Karolinska Institutet to be awarded the European Research Council's prestigious ERC Starting Grant 2022.

The Swedish Research Council (VR) awards seven researchers at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology (FyFa) grants for a total amount of SEK 42,800,000.

In this year's announcement of project grants from the Swedish Cancer Society, OnkPat received a total of 75 million SEK. 22 researchers were granted funding.

The Committee for Research has decided on the allocation of the funding for nine Consolidator grants for researchers already employed by KI.

David Marlevi, Enric Llorens and Onur Dagliyan have been awarded the 2022 ERC Starting Grant. Their projects concern multiscale imaging for cardiovascular diseases, self-repairing injured tissues in mammals and new molecular technology for cellular circuits.

On 11 November, it was time once again for 99 new PhDs of medical science to receive their hats and diplomas at KI’s conferment ceremony. The evening also paid tribute to 17 jubilee doctors who graduated at KI 50 years ago.

Erica Zeglio, Hongji Yan, Onur Parlak and Anna Herland, researchers at the research center AIMES, Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences at Karolinska Institutet, are all awarded grants from The Swedish Research Council 2022.

The Swedish Research Council has awarded Georgios Belibasakis a grant on 2,4 MSEK from 2023 to 2025.

Johannes Asplund at the research group Upper GI Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Towards an improved survival in gastric cancer" on November 25th, 2022.
Main Supervisor is Jesper Lagergren.

In the latest calls from the Swedish Research Council, researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition were awarded grants for the years 2023-2026.

We wish to congratulate the grantees!

Congratulations to all the researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition (BioNut) who received funding from Cancerfonden for the years 2023-2025.

Associate Professor Ning Xu Landén, Department of Medicine Solna, has been granted DKK 4.2 million for research on wound healing.

Nine researchers from the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) are awarded a total of SEK 29 100 000 from The Swedish cancer society - Cancerfonden. Congratulations to:

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have reported new insights on how copper ions inhibit the aggregation of the amyloid-β peptide implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. The study published in JACS Au presents molecular structures of this complex, which provide a general understanding of the impact metal ions have.

Two researchers from the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC) receive grants from The Swedish Cancer Society. Congratulations to:

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown that patients with acute COVID-19 infection have increased levels of the cytokine IL-26 in their blood. Moreover, high IL-26 levels correlate with an exaggerated inflammatory response that signifies severe cases of the disease. The findings, which are presented in Frontiers in Immunology, indicate that IL-26 is a potential biomarker for severe COVID-19.  

The ADHD medication lisdexamfetamine was associated with the lowest risk of hospitalisation and death in people with amphetamine addiction, when medications generally used among persons with substance use disorders were compared. This is shown in a large registry-based study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland and Niuvanniemi Hospital, published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Earlier this year, the Committee for Research established KI Research Incubator (KIRI) for junior researchers to encourage innovative interdisciplinary collaborations. This summer the KIRI-Fellows was invited to apply for funding for joint research projects. Three KIRI Fellows from the Department of Medicine Solna (MedS) have now, together with colleagues from other departments, received funding for interdisciplinary postdoc projects.

Eleven Non-European Master’s students received Karolinska Institutet’s Global Masters scholarship at an annual ceremony in Aula Medica.

The world's biggest community for tropical medicine and global health, the American Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH), had its annual meeting between the 30th of October and November 3rd in Seattle, USA. Global Child Health and SDG research team members Mattias Schedwin and Kevin Baker that participated and were selected to present their research, share their experiences and thoughts from the conference.

The StratNeuro Bridging Grant at the consolidator level is a funding initiative where StratNeuro awards up to two consolidator level grants to support outstanding researchers in the field of neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet.

In the Swedish Cancer Society's latest call, research grants were awarded to seven researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery. The grant refers to the period 2023-2025. Congratulations to:

An article in "Dagens Nyheter" (DN), on November 9, 2022, addresses why more women than men suffer from mental illness, such as depression and anxiety. It brings up various circumstances that may be important for why this is so, such as hormones, environment, expectations, as well as the tendency to seek help for mental health problems. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet participated as experts regarding these various factors.

The widely used gene scissor (CRISPR/Cas) can modify the genetic content in cells to study the molecular roles of genes and has gained great clinical relevance in gene therapy to treat genetic diseases. A new study performed by Claudia Kutter’s research group at the Department of Microbiology, Cell, and Tumor Biology at Karolinska Institutet, found that the gene scissor leads to unexpected genomic changes.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest call, SEK 91 558 000 was awarded to 15 researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) for the years 2022–2027. Congratulations to:

Harmful use of, for example, alcohol and drugs in working life can lead to fatigue, increased sick leave and reduced productivity. Eight research projects are now being awarded a total of SEK 30 million by Afa Försäkring in a research programme aimed at reducing sick leave due to the harmful use of alcohol and/or drugs. Four of the researchers are from Karolinska Institutet (KI).

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and at Yale University in USA have uncovered how stem cells behave in real-time while adapting their gene expression for differentiation. The study is published in the scientific journal Nature Cell Biology.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped how children are exposed to outdoor advertisement for food in order to better understand their food environment. The results are presented in a report produced by UNICEF Sweden and the Heart Lung Foundation, showing that advertising is dominated by ultra-processed foods. Unhealthy eating habits are important causes of poor health in Sweden and the current report shows that it is not just a public health issue, but also a children's right issue.

The Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet has decided on recipients from the Jonas Söderquist scholarship foundation for basic research in virology and immunology 2022. Quirin Hammer at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) and Daniel Sheward at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor- and Cell Biology (MTC)) are awarded.

Atrial fibrillation is the greatest risk factor for stroke. Screening to detect atrial fibrillation in older people would not only increase the chance of preventing stroke, it would also save money for the healthcare system and society, according to a study conducted at Linköping University and Karolinska Institutet, published in the European Heart Journal.

Ingrid Ekström, postdoctoral researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, has received project support for research in the humanities and social sciences from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

At a ceremony on October 12, Professor Francesco Cosentino was awarded the honorary title Doctor Honoris Causa at the Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest calls, SEK 37.7 million was awarded to 9 researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, MMK, for the period 2023–2027.

In a recently published paper in Nature Communications, Magda Bienkos research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at KI, present the method called FRET-FISH. The method combines fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) with DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to probe chromatin compaction at select loci in single cells.

Nine NVS researchers receive funding in the latest announcement in medicine and health from the Swedish Research Council.

Representatives from centres within Stockholm trio met at KI for a breakfast meeting and a chance to engage in conversations about activities and collaborations within the topic of climate and health. The collaboration group on climate and health creates spaces and opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation in this wide and complex field.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest calls, SEK 625,904,933 was awarded to 143 KI researchers. In total, the Swedish Research Council grants just over SEK 1.2 billion for the years 2022–2027.

This year's Special Award goes to Torkel Klingberg, who receives SEK 50,000. The prize aims to celebrate the educational writers behind teaching materials and course literature, and to highlight the important role they play when it comes to education in Sweden.

Hi there, Jie Guo, PhD student at the Division of Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "Unraveling the relationship between body mass index and cardiometabolic disease, dementia, and survival in old age" on 10 November 2022. What is the main focus?

Cells that have permanently stopped multiplying, so-called senescent cells, could play an important role in the fight against cancer, according to a new study in mice by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and IRB Barcelona. The study, published in the journal Cancer Discovery, found that vaccination with senescent cancer cells significantly reduced the formation of melanoma and pancreatic cancer tumors in mice.

Schizophrenia patients have fewer connections between nerve cells. This is believed to be caused by genetic risk variants leading to an excessive elimination of nerve cell connections by the immune cells of the brain. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now report in Nature Communications that the levels of protein from the relevant risk gene are elevated in first-episode patients and that inflammation further increases the expression of the risk gene. 

Hi Martina Bendt, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy. On November 18 you will defend your thesis "Adults living with spina bifida – From health and living conditions to motor-cognitive performance", what's the main focus of the thesis?