News archive

In the middle of May, around 30 students and three teachers from The School of Health Sciences, Western University, Ontario, Canada, visited the study programmes in health care sciences at NVS. This is part of a collaboration that started on a smaller scale in 2018, and after a short break during the pandemic is back on track since last year.

In June 2023 representatives from Karolinska Institutet visited Washington DC and New York City in the US. Connected to several collaborations important to KI and with strategic plans to increase alumni activity in the US, the visit included a SIREUS event hosted at the House of Sweden in DC, as well as two planned alumni events in DC and New York, along with valuable alumni visits to Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Almost a hundred experts from 27 countries took part in a hackathon on June 17–18 to identify diseases in 14 patients lacking diagnoses. “Four of them have now received an answer and we’re confident that more are to come,” says professor and consultant Ann Nordgren, who was one of the organizers of the event.

A watercolour painting, anatomical artwork or a whole house dedicated to the body. When scientists turn to art, science takes on new forms.

SFO-V regularly announces calls for partial financing of sabbaticals within health care sciences. This past spring, Susan Guidetti, professor at the Division of Occupational Therapy and Eric Asaba, docent and senior lecturer at the Division of Occupational Therapy were granted funding for sabbaticals in Ugandan and USA, respectively.

One of our partner universities, the City University of London, came to visit KI and KI Housing offered them guided tours of our accommodation area “KI Residence Flemingsberg”.

In a nationwide Swedish study of more than 85,000 patients with biopsy-confirmed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Örebro University (Sweden) observed that IBD patients had an increased risk of stroke, especially of ischaemic events, compared to the general population. The results are published in Neurology.

Many men in northern Europe over the age of 60 suffer from the so-called Viking disease, which means that the fingers lock in a bent position. Now researchers at Karolinska Institutet, together with colleagues, have used data from over 7,000 affected individuals to look for genetic risk factors for the disease. The findings, which have been published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, show that three of the strongest risk factors are inherited from Neanderthals.

PROMINENT Project, which was officially launched today, will Enhance Diagnosis and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Improving Patients' Lives Across Europe.

The European Health Conference and Exhibition HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) 23 was held on the 7-9 June, 2023 in Lisbon.

Assistant professor Marcus Buggert at Karolinska Institutet is awarded Anders Jahre's prize for young researchers 2023 and 400.000 NOK.

A new DNA-based COVID-19 vaccine is now being tested for the first time on healthy volunteers at Karolinska University Hospital. The vaccine has been developed at Karolinska Institutet and target multiple parts of the virus, making it less vulnerable to mutated strains and potentially effective against new variants.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have created a new method of studying the smallest bioparticles in the body. The study, which is published in Nature Biotechnology, has considerable scientific potential, such as in the development of more effective vaccines.

The project was presented at the conference in Munich in May, 2023.

Solving the logic of life. This may seem like an overwhelming task. But for Professor Rickard Sandberg, this is the objective.

The Encephalitis Society is a worldwide international charity with the mission of building better futures by driving research, accelerating awareness, and saving lives. In the latest issue of their newsletter which has been running since 2003, the society has chosen to highlight the research performed in Federico Iovino's group.

Creative ideas were born when the NeurotechEU alliance arranged a hackathon at Karolinska Institutet. “Activities like this highlight the value of having people from other disciplines and countries – and at different stages of their careers – engage in cross-border innovative processes with each other,” says KI president Annika Östman Wernerson.

Maria Karvouni from the Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending her thesis: "Cellular and personalized therapies in Multiple Myeloma with special emphasis on retargeted NK cells" 16 June 2023. Main supervisor is Evren Alici (MedH).

Frank Chenfei Ning, postdoc in Ulf Eriksson’s group at The Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, has been awarded the 2023 Young Investigator award from the European Foundation for the study of diabetes.

A new study from the Kristina Broliden research group at the Department of Medicine in Solna, shows that women with a healthy bacterial flora in the vagina can simultaneously have disease-linked bacteria attached to the ectocervical mucosa. The study has recently been published in the journal Microbiome.

KI-Region Stockholm is the ALF region that best meets the quality criteria in the National Board of Health and Welfare’s evaluation of academic healthcare (USV). The results of the evaluation were compiled into a report published on 31 May. Research is the Stockholm region’s strongest area, but the report also comments positively on its innovation, pedagogics education and interaction with patients and their families.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a type of cancer that occurs in the nasopharynx, which is located behind the nose and above the back of the throat. NPC has a geographically skewed distribution worldwide, with high incidence rates in East and Southeast Asia. NPC is difficult to detect early, and treatment usually involves radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination of the two.

Forte is allocating SEK 160 million to research on the health and well-being of older people. The funds are divided into three programme grants and 19 project grants and the research will begin in 2023 and continue until 2029. Two researchers at the Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet, have been granted funding for their important research within the ageing research area.

Older autistic adults have a significantly higher risk of injury, especially self-inflicted, and physical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, anaemia, heart failure and COPD. This is according to a large-scale registry study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.

Our skin contains specialised long-lived killer cells that protect against intruders. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Copenhagen have now identified how these cells are formed, and shown that high levels of memory killer cells in cancer tissue correlate with a better survival rate in people with melanoma. The study is published in the journal Immunity.

In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet show that recombinant spider silk protein hydrogels have many attractive features. They allow encapsulation of cells and bioactive molecules simply by incubation at 37°C. They are transparent, which allows monitoring of encapsulated cells, and the fibrillar network mimics that of the extracellular matrix. The mechanical properties of these hydrogels match those of different tissues, and the gels can be used for continuous drug release.

Hi there Jing Wu! You are about to defend your thesis entitled “Ambient Air Pollution and Transportation Noise: How They Affect Mental Health in Older Adults”. Could you tell us a little bit more about it?

Anna Wredenberg, Principal researcher in the Division of Molecular Metabolism at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at KI, has received a grant from Novo Nordisk; the Ascending Investigator Grant - Endocrinology and Metabolism 2023.

Jenny Mjösberg at the Department of Medicine in Huddinge at Karolinska Institutet, receives the 2023 Eric K. Fernström Prize for young, promising and successful researchers, for her outstanding research on the role of innate lymphoid cells in various diseases.

In the largest survey to date, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have studied how diseases of the aortic valve affect prognosis in patients with various types of heart failure. The study was published in the European Journal of Heart Failure. Shared first authors are sisters Angiza and Bahira Shahim, who also presented the results of the study at the Heart Failure International Conference in Prague.

Older people with ischemic heart disease have an increased long-term risk of dementia and accelerated cognitive decline. A recent study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, suggests that the heart, the brain, and cognitive function are connected in the ageing process and that appropriate prevention and treatment of ischemic heart disease in older people might reduce the burden of dementia.

The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) is allocating over SEK 91 million to KI research on elderly wellbeing and future working life. One of the researchers, who is to receive SEK 24 million, is Associate Professor Carin Håkansta at Karolinska Institutet and Karlstad University, who will be examining how the working environment is affected when some managerial tasks are taken over by algorithms.

Hi Nathalie Frisendahl, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy. On June 16 you will defend your thesis ”Injurious falls in older adults: early identification of individuals at risk of falls—from observational studies to implementation”, what is the main focus of the thesis?

The SiiUss project (Sustainability, Inclusiveness, Integration for University Support Services), is a collaborative initiative between Karolinska Institutet and the University of the Philippines Diliman. The project introduces the SiiUss course, a learning platform designed to enhance professional development and foster sustainability, inclusiveness, and integration within university support services. The course just started with participants from both universities.

In a recently published study, researchers at the Institute for Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet show that girls with childhood asthma or food allergies are at increased risk of premenstrual disorders in adulthood.

This year marks one hundred years since Frederick Banting and John MacLeod were awarded the Nobel prize for the discovery of insulin. The discovery has saved the lives of millions of people with diabetes worldwide, but the price is also one of the most debated. In their photo documentary, Professors Lars Rydén and Jan Lindsten talk about the history of the discovery, the problems associated with the award, and the importance the findings have had for today's treatment of diabetes.

In a nationwide Swedish study involving more than 12,000 individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), researchers found a significantly increased risk of severe infections requiring hospital admission. The study was published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Hanna Karlsson and Sara Widén are the first ever recipients of KI’s new Sustainability Award, which they have earned in recognition of their efforts to support the KI faculty on issues of sustainability.

Research Network 'KI Lifestyle4Health' collaborates with the University Library to create KI authors- MeSH terms networks.

In FORTE's call in the field of Elderly 2023 (Knowledge and working methods for a more equal, dignified and participatory ageing), four researchers at NVS and one affiliated researcher will share just over SEK 60 million. NVS congratulates them all!

Since attending KI’s capacity-building programme for leaders in women’s and children’s health, Tiwonge Gondwe-Mwangonde has used knowledge gained from the course to reduce the incidence of birth injuries in Malawi. She is now launching a new training programme for the region’s midwives.

At the Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals' team meeting May 17, students supervised by team members were invted to present their thesis. All students gave excellent presentations on various topics within global health, followed by questions and discussion in the team. Thank you to all the students that joined us to present and congratultions on your great work.

A new study demonstrates that the dietary fatty acid gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) derived from the mother's milk triggers a metabolic shift essential for heart cell maturation in newborn mice. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet contributed to the study published in Nature in May 2023.

While the relevance for human heart development still needs to be addressed, GLA is found in human breast milk and the GLA-activated nuclear receptors are highly conserved between mice and humans.

Hi Jakob Norgren, PhD student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics. On June 12 you will defend your thesis ”The impact of macronutritional composition and ketosis on cognitive health : from normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease”, what is the main focus of the thesis?

Students from the study programmes in nursing, radiography, medicine and psychology attended the new elective course in Sustainable Health and Development, 7.5 credits, which is offered for the first time in the spring term of 2023. The course is developed by the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health, which is a cooperation between KI and Makerere University.

Bipolar disorder underlies roughly five percent of all suicides among young people. Previous studies also show that there is often a long delay between the onset of bipolarism and its correct diagnosis and treatment. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that fewer boys commit suicide in Swedish regions where bipolar diagnoses are more common. The study, which is published in JAMA Psychiatry, could contribute to more proactive care for reducing the number of suicides.

Graduation time at Karolinska Institutet. At KI, more than a thousand students graduate this summer. We asked some of them what they are going to do after graduation and, of course, asked them to share some of their favourite memories from their time as a KI-student.

We would like to remind you never to leave your belongings out of sight.

Professor Stefan Swartling Peterson was invited to present on “prevention” in Warsaw, Poland, as the World Bank’s Anna Koziel organized a seminar May 19th to inspire prevention stakeholders from Poland and Western Ukraine. The challenge is to conceive an Non Communicable Disease prevention agenda that involves more than health care and to develop Primary Health Care. We foresee further collaboration opportunities as this initiative develops.

The Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with the National Competence Centre for Relatives (Nka), is launching a nationwide survey to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of older informal caregivers in Sweden.