News archive

Scientists hope that tiny sacs of material excreted by cells – so-called extracellular vesicles – can be used to deliver drugs inside the body. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that these nano-bubbles can transport protein drugs that reduce inflammation caused by different diseases. The technique, which is presented in Nature Biomedical Engineering, shows promising results in animal models.

At the end of September, a seminar tilted “How can we prepare ourselves for the next health crisis?” was held at KI with an expert panel including representatives of the Swedish Public Health Agency, the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Anders Nordström, the Swedish Ambassador for Global Health and Secretary of the WHO’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), spoke on the WHO report “COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic”.

Christer Betsholtz, professor at the Department of Medicine Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the major Nordic Prize for 2021 by the Eric K. Fernström Foundation. He receives one million SEK for his research into blood-vessel cells and their vascular structure and function.

BioNut researcher has received SEK 4.6 million in research grant from FORTE for a project on “Effects of increased ultra-processed food advertisement (outdoors and digital) exposure on behaviours associated with obesity development in Swedish adolescents, evaluated in a socioeconomic context.”

NVS congratulates them all!

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have examined long-term outcomes in patients who received pacemaker implantations after transcatheter aortic valve replacement through their groin. The result showed no significant difference in mortality for the patients with pacemakers compared to those without. The study is published in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

It is well known that obesity affects the body's insulin production and over time risks leading to type 2 diabetes and several other metabolic diseases. Now researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found further explanation for why fat cells cause metabolic morbidity. The study, published in Nature Medicine, may have an impact on the treatment of comorbidity in obesity with already available drugs.

The Swedish Society of Medicine honors Agneta Nordberg, professor in clinical neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, with the Bengt Winblad Prize 2021.

Several substantial appropriations have been awarded to KI through the Swedish Research Council’s national research infrastructure initiative.
The Swedish Twin Registry (STR), Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS) and the National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) were all awarded funding through the Research Council.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021 has been awarded jointly to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.”

The Department of Global Public Health, in collaboration with the Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, invites to the upcoming lecture in the Stockholm Public Health Lectures series 20 October. The topic of the lecture is evidence on COVID-19 response measures.

To start off a productive academic year the Global Child Health and SDGs team met at Hagströmer Medical Library for the annual mini-retreat with keynote speakers Mariam Claeson and Kelly Elimian, group discussions, guided tour of the library and lunch at Stallmästaregården Restaurant.

Hello Ola Rosling, who will participate in the first annual seminar this 6 October, held in the spirit of Hans Rosling. The seminar and panel discussion will centre around global health. What do you think Hans Rosling would have to say about the current pandemic?

Three researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutriton, Karolinska Institutet, have received grants from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for their research in endocrinology.

The Department of Dental Medicine congratulates Mirjam Majster on the NOF Hatton award. She was awarded the prize at the CED-IADR / NOF Oral health congress 2021.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have compared how well different Alzheimer’s biomarkers predict the progression of the disease and its effect on the memory. They found that early accumulation of tau proteins in the brain as measured by PET scanner was more effective at predicting memory impairment than biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid or amyloid plaque in the brain. The results are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

We are happy to announce that the National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) received the renewal of the research infrastructure grant by the Swedish Research Council (VR) for the period 2023-2028.

Professor Juleen R. Zierath receives the 2021 prestigious EASD Claude Bernard Award. This award recognizes an individual’s innovative leadership and lifetime achievements in diabetes research and is the EASD’s highest award.

The government is set to invest through the innovation authority Vinnova another SEK 96 million on Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS), a national organisation led from Karolinska Institutet. Regions and universities are also putting up SEK 124 million, making a total of SEK 220 million that will make it possible to continue introducing precision medicine into Swedish healthcare.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed an AI-based tool that improves the diagnosis of breast cancer tumours and the ability to predict the risk of recurrence. The greater diagnostic precision can lead to more personalised treatment for the large group of breast cancer patients with intermediate risk tumours. The results are published in the scientific journal Annals of Oncology.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a protein that improves muscular metabolism, motor coordination and exercise performance in mice. The findings, published in Cell Metabolism, could be of therapeutic value for patients with muscle and neurological diseases, such as ALS.

Vinnova is investing in eleven innovation environments in precision health that will pave the way to more preventive, accurate healthcare with greater equity, while helping Sweden strengthen its position as a leading life science nation. Of the eleven innovation environments selected, three are at Karolinska Institutet.

In a new report, the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm examined how suicide rates have changed in Sweden in 2020. 

Patients with bipolar disorder who experience manic episodes are more likely to show abnormal brain changes over time, according to one of the largest longitudinal brain imaging studies in its field to date. The study, led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and University of Gothenburg in Sweden, also confirms links between bipolar disorder and accelerated brain ventricle enlargement. The findings are published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Karolinska Institutet is carrying out a research study to evaluate whether the opening of Campus has an effect on the spread of COVID-19. Students, teachers and staff at KI are welcome to participate.

Karolina Kauppi, researcher in medical biology, and Janina Seubert, researcher in psychology at Karolinska Institutet have been elected to the Young Academy of Sweden, an organisation that brings together younger, leading researchers from all fields and all parts of the country.

Recently, the 27th Annual Research Meeting was held within the collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Mayo Clinic.

Two students at Karolinska Institutet (KI) recently won first prize in The Global Undergraduate Awards 2021, an award in which some of the world's foremost students participate.

COVID-19 disease severity seems to be affected by the characteristics of white blood cells called granulocytes, which are part of the innate immune system. Combined measurements of granulocytes and well-known biomarkers in the blood can predict the severity of the disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet. The results are published in the journal PNAS and may eventually contribute to more tailored treatments for COVID-19 patients.

It is a question of presenting their research to the public in four minutes, not a very simple task. At this year's digital edition of the Research Grand Prix, two doctoral students from Karolinska Institutet will be participating to do just that.

Jill Ziesmer, PhD student is interviewed in Karolinska institutets podcast Medicinvetarna no 77. The podcast is available on Spotify and podcasts.nu, among others.

Hi there Stefan Fors, researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet. Along with two other researchers from KI, you have shown that there are inequalities in life expectancy among older people in Sweden and that these differences have increased during the period 2006–2015. Could you tell us a little more?

Albin Björk is awarded the prize for his dissertation "Immunopathogenic mechanisms in primary Sjögren's syndrome"

A recent study published in Clinical Nutrition shows that underweight and malnutrition are risk factors for in-hospital mortality in geriatric COVID-19 patients. The study was performed at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with Theme Inflammation & Aging at Karolinska University Hospital and geriatric clinics in the Stockholm Region.

Critical illness results in millions of deaths globally every year, many of which could be avoided with basic, life-saving care. Now, a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet outlines a baseline bundle of care interventions that global experts agree should be available for all critically ill patients. The study, published in the journal BMJ Global Health, provides a blueprint for hospitals on how to reduce preventable deaths, including from COVID-19.

The Department of Global Public Health is involved in several courses of the new 6-year medical programme that began autumn 2021 and Knut Lönnroth is one of the professors who have been teaching during the first weeks of the autumn semester.

Poverty and violence were already endemic even before an earthquake hit Haiti in mid-August. Thousands of people now live in informal camp sites in the capital Port-au-Prince. KI doctoral student and nurse Martina Gustavsson went there to work with Doctors Without Borders’ emergency response team.

On Thursday 16 September the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH) was inaugurated. It's a digital competence center that has been established together with Makerere University in Uganda. The purpose of the center is to promote sustainable health and contribute to Agenda 2030 with the help of a long-term partnership.

Traumatic experiences such as assault or a road accident can give rise to nightmares, flashbacks and other mental reactions, and accessible therapy is needed to prevent exacerbation of the problems. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now completed what could be the largest evaluation to date of internet-delivered trauma-focused CBT (iCBT-T) for people who have recently experienced trauma. The study, which is published in Psychological Medicine, shows promising results.

Hi Karin Björklund, PhD student at the Division on Family Medicine and Primary Care. On October 15 you will defend your thesis ‘Students’ workplace learning in primary health care: learning from patients’, what’s the main focus of the thesis?

Postural hypotension, a drastic drop in blood pressure when standing up, is linked to an increased risk of dementia and accelerated progression from cognitive impairment to dementia, even in the absence of symptoms, for instance when feeling dizzy or faint. In a study published in the journal Hypertension, researchers from Karolinska Institutet show that postural hypotension could anticipate worse cognition in old age.

Karolinska Institutet has the ambition to establish a central back-office to support researchers in their partnering with industry. To realize this ambition, the External Engagement Office will be launching a one-year project designed to create the best possible foundation for this future support function.

Birth by caesarean section is weakly associated with a lower general cognitive ability in young adult males. However, the magnitude of this association is not clinically relevant. This is according to a study at Karolinska Institutet, published in the Evidence-Based Mental Health. The lower general cognitive ability also seems to be largely explained by familial factors shared between siblings instead of mode of delivery, the study found.

It is now possible for students and staff at Karolinska Institutet (KI) to visit the Karolinska University Hospital's vaccination clinics in Solna and Flemingsberg to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Young people are at risk of falling seriously unwell with tuberculosis and spreading the disease. Therefore, researchers at Karolinska Institutet, among others, have mapped key factors that affect the treatment outcomes in 10- to 24-year-olds with tuberculosis in Brazil, where the disease is increasing. To deal with the global tuberculosis epidemic, researchers say that greater focus is needed on this age group in tuberculosis programs. The study is published in The Lancet Global Health.

Our bodies can fine-tune the immune response to an infection and make it proportional to the threat at hand. New research from Karolinska Institutet describes how B lymphocytes, the immune cells that make antibodies, choose between different cell fates to balance the magnitude of the acute immune response and the memory response that protects against future threats. The study, published in Immunity, may contribute to the optimisation of vaccines to fight viruses or other pathogens.

Have you noticed that more student-related content has appeared on Karolinska Institutet's official Instagram lately? KI has recruited students from the national programs to share their experience on the account @Karolinskainstitutet.

Academics from all 18 higher education institutions in Stockholm have been invited to discuss future global challenges from new perspectives, extending past the traditional academic boundaries at the Stockholm Explorative Talks on 23 september 2021 at the Royal College of Music (KMH) in Stockholm.

Docent Sara Hägg, together with a multidisciplinary team of KI researcher, has been awarded an NIH Prime Grant for their research on repurposing drugs for the primary prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease. The grant is for three years with the option to apply for additional two years.

Malin Nygren-Bonnier, docent and senior lecturer at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hosptial has been awarded Physiotherapist of the Year 2021, by the Swedish Association of Physiotherapists. She is honored for her work with rehabilitation after COVID-19.