News archive

The greatest challenge facing current treatments of leukaemia is drug resistance. Hong Qian studies the microenvironment where the cancer cells are formed with the aim to find new treatment pathways. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

Hi Magdalena Fresk, doctoral student at the Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care . On October 10 you will defend your thesis ”International classification of functioning, disability and health in the sickness certification process” What is the main focus of the thesis?

Faisal Alagrafi from the Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) defends his thesis titled "The Role of gamma delta T Cells in Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Malignancies", on 26 September, 2025. Main supervisor is Michael Uhlin (MedH).

Inflammatory bowel disease affects millions of people worldwide and currently lacks a cure. Eduardo Villablanca studies how inflammation starts and heals in the intestines, with the aim to find new treatment methods. 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 have conducted the most extensive study to date on adults who have never had sexual intercourse. The findings, published in PNAS, suggest that lifelong sexlessness is associated with a multifaceted interplay of psychological, social, and genetic factors.

Over 70 employees and students from Karolinska Institutet participated in this year's international conference for health and medical education, AMEE 2025, which was held in Barcelona. The conference brought together over 4,000 participants from around the world and offered both future outlooks and important discussions on the role of education in a rapidly changing healthcare.

Social Affairs and Public Health Minister Jakob Forssmed recently visited Karolinska Institutet to attend an international seminar arranged to mark the launch of “A call to action for adolescents mental health and wellbeing”, the second report from the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing.

Everything we perceive is the result of neuronal activity in our brains. Daniel Lundqvist uses advanced brain imaging techniques to study the mind. His goal: to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October. 

A Swedish-led research team at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has shown in a new randomized clinical trial that a low dose of the well-known medicine aspirin halves the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer with a certain type of genetic alteration in the tumor.

Musical people find it easier to focus their attention on the right sounds in noisy environments. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Science Advances. The results suggest that music training can be used to sharpen attention and cognition.

The prestigious European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP) Tripartite Congress, held in Paris from September 10–12, recognized Professor Anna Martling with the Best Scientific Paper Award.

The decision to have a child or not should belong to individuals, not to pollution in their environment, argues Pauliina Damdimopoulou, who studies how the chemicals in our environment affect the ovaries and the egg cells they contain. 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 NeurotechEU is gearing up for its annual hackathon!

Over 1,300 women are still dying of breast cancer in Sweden every year. Theodoros Foukakis is trying to understand the tumour properties that determine the success of a particular treatment in order to achieve greater therapeutic precision. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Nature Communications, reveals that cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) promote DNA replication licensing in human cells by relieving inhibitory signals from RB tumor suppressor proteins. The findings add a new layer to our understanding of how cancer drugs work and may lead to better targeted cancer therapies in the future.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University and Northwestern University have identified a new way to protect the kidney’s blood vessels and reduce tissue damage in chronic kidney disease. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

On September 2, we held a kick-off for the Doctoral School in Health Sciences (FiH) with 14 doctoral students, including eight from NVS and the rest from six other departments.

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.

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.

Heart muscle injury during major surgery and intensive care is common. Michelle Chew studies which patients are at risk and how these injuries can be prevented and treated. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.

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.

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.

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 Nauclér 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.