News archive

Karolinska Institutet (KI) is renewing its educational collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and will soon launch two new courses. The courses are possible thanks to support from The Kamprad Family Foundation. The focus is on courses that provide participants with the skills and tools they need to work with healthcare interventions in low-resource contexts, humanitarian disasters and health crises, both globally and locally.

National centre for suicide research and prevention (NASP) recently participated in the periodic EXPERIENCE Consortium Meeting, held on September 19-20, 2024, in Rome, Italy. Hosted by Tor Vergata University of Rome, the meeting brought together members of the consortium to review the progress of the EXPERIENCE project, a groundbreaking initiative exploring the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in clinical settings.

Vinnova is investing in precision medicine and awarding grant funding to six innovation environments. Two of them are at Karolinska Institutet, and both focus on treating cancer. The aim of the grants is to fund efforts to bring greater precision to the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases.

The Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS) awards researchers John Pernow and Aida Collado Sánchez at Karolinska Institutet with the Alvarenga Prize 2024. The laureates are rewarded for a research article on a study that shows a new cause behind vascular complications in type 2 diabetes and possible future treatment to prevent this.

Hi Katarina Holmberg, doctoral student at the Division of Nursing. On October 11 you will defend your thesis ”Symptom burden, preparedness, self-efficacy and self-care in allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation”. What is the main focus of the thesis?

The very idea of a vaccine is to prevent a disease from occurring. By exposing the body to a small part of an infectious agent that causes a disease, but doing so in a killed or weakened form, the body develops a defense against the disease. In a sense, vaccines can be argued to be the ultimate form of preparedness, as they prevent the disease from occurring in the first place, or at least mitigate it.

We all recognise the scene from countless horror movies and thrillers. A new, unknown virus is spreading. Panic ensues! Suddenly, the streets of New York are filled with people in yellow hazmat suits with big helmets, carrying stretchers where people lie writhing in terrible agony. But what is does it really look like when we prepare for and manage communicable diseases? The Centre for Health Crises’ expert coordinator knows more.

Kyla McKay, researcher in MS epidemiology and affiliated with the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström Minnesfonds pris in “Clinical Neurology - especially inflammatory mechanisms affecting central or peripheral nervous system function”.

There are five places left on our doctoral course and you still have the chance to apply!

Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 is high in both people with and without mental illness, according to a large multinational study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in Nature Communications. However, Swedish registry data revealed that individuals with unmedicated mental illness have lower vaccination levels.

Some health crises occur suddenly and intensely, for example in the event of an armed attack or an earthquake. Others come more stealthily. One of the clearest and most worrying examples of an insidious health crisis is antibiotic resistance, which will be addressed at a high-level meeting of the United Nations in September.

Addgene is a non-profit organization that serves as a global plasmid repository, facilitating the sharing of molecular biology tools among researchers worldwide. Those scientists whose plasmid has been ordered 100 times or more are congratulated with a “Blue Flame Award”.

A recent study published in Nature Communications by researchers at Karolinska Institutet offers new insights into the development of ovarian follicles, which are vital for female fertility as they contain oocytes.

Correct and functioning diagnostics are a basic prerequisite for knowing what is happening and what it is we are dealing with, both in everyday life, but not least in a health crisis. Therefore, the need for adaptable and scalable laboratory and diagnostic capabilities is central to rapid and adequate management in many health crises, whether infectious diseases or chemical spills.

Priorities for intensive care in times of crisis are something that has interested the Centre for Health Crisis Expert Coordinator Märit Halmin for some time. She is the guest editor of a special issue of Läkartidningen on the subject, where she writes alongside several other experts in the field.

Healthcare is a societal function that needs to function both in everyday life and in a health crisis. In any health crisis, be it a natural disaster, war in an unstable Europe or a new pandemic, the number of patients in need of care will increase. Among them, a certain proportion will be critically ill in need of intensive care. This will require difficult decisions and prioritisation from their doctors.

The KI Biobank in Solna turns 20 this year. No fewer than 8.5 million samples from 750,000 individuals are preserved in its freezers. “The biobank is absolutely crucial to meeting tomorrow’s research needs,” says Sanela Kjellqvist, head of the KI Biobank.

Preparedness Week 2024 has started. The theme for the year is "Get started" and around the country, municipalities, regions, civil society organizations and many more are investing in information and communication campaigns. But what exactly is preparedness?

Researchers have developed a gel inspired by cow slime for patients suffering from disc herniation.

The Center for Resuscitation science at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Duke University, USA, participated in a research exchange on the use of drones as first responders in cases of cardiac arrest. During a symposium in Gothenburg, researchers and emergency services from both Sweden and the US shared their experiences and discussed future possibilities to improve prehospital rescue systems using drone technology.

Join us on 24 September 2024, at the World Trade Centre in Stockholm for the Doctoral Student and Supervisor Day, a day dedicated to co-creation, co-design, and participatory research. Engage with leading experts like Dr. Joanne Woodford and Dr. Elin Inge, delve into innovative homecare projects with Docent Ida Goliath and Dr. Sarah Wallcook, and discuss the crucial role of feedback with Dr. Lena Engqvist Boman.

The Prize (USD 10.000) is meant to reward pre-graduate scientific contributions within the doctoral education. The candidate should not have reached the age of 32 years at the time he/she is nominated to the prize. The prize will be awarded at the Installation Ceremony of Karolinska Institutet.

Some of the world’s most prominent Alzheimer’s researchers congregated recently in Stockholm for the tenth anniversary of the prestigious Goodes Prize. The programme included a seminar day and a study visit to Karolinska Institutet followed by a social event in Stockholm City Hall.

For the third year in a row, Karolinska Institutet has been placed on the list of Sweden's 100 most attractive employers according to students and young academics. This is in fierce competition with, among others, Ikea, Google, Spotify and Astra Zeneca. This is shown by the annual Young Professional Attraction Index.

Researchers found that a medicine called ferric carboxymaltose given in drip through the vein works faster and better than an iron tablet taken by mouth for the treatment of anaemia – and it is as safe as the tablet. The findings were published in Lancet Global Health.

When the research company Verian presents this year's reputation index for universities and colleges, KI has increased by four points. With an estimate of 70, KI is well above the average of 63.

The European University of Brain and Technology would like to invite you to come present your research at the next NeurotechEU meeting in Istanbul, Turkey!

Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive and often fatal form of skin cancer. Weng-Onn Lui intends to find out how the Merkel cell polyomavirus influences tumour growth and the development of treatment resistance. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

Our understanding of autism has changed significantly in the past years. Previously viewed as a rare childhood disorder with a focus on deficits and pathology, autism is now recognized as a common, lifelong and heterogenous condition characterized by a broad spectrum of strengths and challenges. With increasing numbers of autistic adults and in particular females, a better understanding of autism in young adulthood for autistic females and males is warranted.

David Freiholtz, PhD student in the Thoracic Surgery group at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the Senning Scholarship for 2024.

The scholarship was presented during the Scandinavian Thoracic Meeting in Gothenburg by the Swedish Association for Thoracic Surgery in memory of Åke Senning. The scholarship aims to support the most deserving thoracic surgery-focused research project of the year.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and AstraZeneca have discovered that gene expression in adipose stem cells varies according to sex and type of adipose tissue in mice. These findings may pave the way for future therapeutic interventions to increase the body's fat storage capacity and improve metabolism.

The Center for Innovative Medicine (CIMED) supports high-quality clinical research at Campus Flemingsberg. The allocation of their project grants for 2025-2027 was finalized this summer.

Welcome to Yuxia Wei's presentation of her thesis ”Risk factors and prognosis of diabetes with and without an autoimmune component”.

Errors during cell division can lead to conditions such as cancer and infertility. Jan Ellenberg studies the molecular processes of cell division in order that these diseases can eventually 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 3 October.

Ernest Arenas, professor at Karolinska Institutet, passed away on September 15th at the age of 62. Dr. Arenas was widely known both within and outside Sweden as one of the pioneers in Parkinson’s disease research, with a strong commitment to developing better treatment strategies through cell replacement therapy.

Is your immune system functioning as it should? The question is not as simple to answer as one might think. Professor Petter Brodin is trying to understand more about it. At the same time, he hopes to help patients that are severely affected with post-COVID and other conditions where the regulation of the immune system is not working.

In a new study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), an alternative method for assessing the cancer potency of air pollution is presented, focusing on mixtures of organic pollutants in particles.

Our fat cells not only store energy, they are also involved in many physiological processes. Kirsty Spalding researches how dysfunctional fat cells impact health and disease in humans. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

A new study published in the journal Geroscience has investigated whether centenarians reach old age by surviving, delaying or even avoiding disease. By following individuals born in the same year from the age of 60 onwards, the researchers were able to track the disease patterns of those who died early and late in life.

Generation Pep wants all children and young people in Sweden to have the opportunity and desire to live an active and healthy life. They collaborate with established knowledge partners, including Karolinska Institutet. Generation Pep now presents the online training programme My Best Day, developed in collaboration with researchers at KI and others, with the aim of improving young people's health.

Eurolife's DATAETHICS project has been awarded for its innovative work on data ethics and Big Data in (bio)medical education, and has received funding for an international conference in December.

RNA-sequencing has become a cornerstone in the study of gene expression, offering insights beyond mere mRNA transcript abundances. One area of increasing interest is alternative splicing, a process that allows a single gene to produce multiple transcript variants and thus protein isoforms with potentially different functions. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mutations in the splicing factor gene SF3B1 are well-documented, yet broader implications of SF3B1 mutations are underexplored.

StratNeuro Welcomes New Board Members and Thanks Outgoing Members

Unrestrained inflammation is associated with many diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Peder Olofsson wants to understand how nerve signals regulate inflammation to ultimately improve therapeutic options. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

Concurrent with the ageing global population is a growing need of preventative action on age-related diseases. Weili Xu is studying how cardiovascular disease and diabetes influence the risk of developing cognitive failure and dementia. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

At a ceremony at Drottningholm Court Theatre on 3 September, HM Queen Silvia awarded diplomas to two doctors, a dentist, an audiologist and a dietitian, marking the end of Karolinska Institutet’s dementia courses, which were produced jointly with Stiftelsen Silviahemmet.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a mechanism responsible for a serious psychiatric complication caused by dopamine replacement therapy in Parkinson’s disease. The results of these findings were recently published in Molecular Psychiatry.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet has made a significant breakthrough in the study of childhood neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that begins before birth during the early stages of adrenal gland development.

Cervical cancer is a major global health problem. It ranks as the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths among women, despite the disease being largely preventable. Now, researchers from Karolinska Institutet have received funding from the UICC to investigate how an HPV self-screening programme can be implemented in war-torn Ukraine.

During the last two weeks of August, newly admitted KI students were invited to the introduction. The mild weather fitted like a glove with the warm atmosphere that permeated the many activities.