News archive

Hi there Clare Tazzeo! You will defend your thesis entitled "Investigating the interplay between frailty and healthcare utilization in older adults" on 26 May 2025. Could you tell us a little more?

A vitamin supplement that improves metabolism in the eye appears to slow down damage to the optic nerve in glaucoma. Promising results have been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine. The researchers behind the study have now started a clinical trial on patients.

Bacterial resistance negates the effect of antibiotics in the treatment of infection. Using mouse models, researchers now show that if antibiotics are administered with an enzyme called endolysin, the combined effect protects against infection by resistant bacteria in all bodily organs – including the brain, which antibiotics alone have difficulty reaching. The results are reported in the journal Molecular Medicine.

Despite rapid advances in genome and exome sequencing, many individuals with rare diseases remain undiagnosed. In a Perspective article published in Nature Genetics, researchers at Karolinska Institutet highlight how long-read whole genome sequencing, LR-WGS, offers a paradigm shift in genetic testing.

The Docent Committee decided on the 29 of April 2025 to admit Kyla McKay as docent in public health, global health and social medicine.

A chance to welcome new KI students – in a paid role! We’re looking for students who want to work during the introduction week and at KI’s Welcome Days.

Dental professionals find it difficult to identify patients with severe dental anxiety. At the same time, patients are reluctant to talk about their fears and hope that the staff will understand anyway. This dilemma is described in a new thesis presented at the Department of Odontology at Karolinska Institutet.

Congratulations to Karl-Johan Malmberg, who has been awarded King Olav V's Cancer Research Prize for 2025. The prize is awarded annually to a researcher who has significantly improved the quality of Norwegian cancer research.

Klas Kärre, Professor Emeritus of Molecular Immunology at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, has been elected as an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with BUP Stockholm has conducted a pilot evaluation of a family-based cognitive behavioral therapy for adolescents with suicidal behavior. The study, published in the scientific journal BMJ Mental Health, shows that the treatment Safe Alternatives for Teens and Youths (SAFETY) may be a promising option for reducing suicide attempts.

Researchers from Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with National Family Care Competence Center (Nka), sent out a survey to 31,000 older adults to learn more about those that take care of a loved one, in or outside their homes. Turns out 2,157 people older than 65 years provide such care on a regular basis.

The 2025 Svedberg Prize is awarded to Michael Landreh, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, "for the development and innovative use of mass spectrometric tools that reveal hidden protein interactions."

A new project, supported by the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund, aims to test hundreds of drugs simultaneously using advanced 3D cell models, despite limited sample material. The goal is to identify more treatment options for children with cancer, building on existing resources from GMS Childhood Cancer and the Swedish Childhood Tumor Biobank.

The Cozzarelli Prize recognises publications that reflect scientific excellence and originality. The 2024 prize for the best biomedical article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has been awarded to MedH researcher Jakob Theorell.

In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), certain recurrent genetic alterations are known to influence disease progression and survival. One important abnormality is the loss of part of chromosome 11, del(11q), which is associated with a more aggressive disease course. However, it has remained unclear whether mutations in the ATM gene, which is also located in this region, have a similar impact.

KI researcher Pauliina Damdimopoulou is currently experiencing a lot of activity. At the end of April this year, she was appointed ERC ambassador — and just a few days later, she became a professor of reproductive biology at the Department of Women's and Children's Health. Now she looks forward to building new collaborations to strengthen research on women's and children's health.

A team of international researchers led by Karolinska Institutet has revealed in unprecedented detail how tetracycline antibiotics impair T cell function by binding mitochondrial ribosomes and inhibiting oxidative metabolism (OXPHOS). The study, reported in Nature Communications, raises mechanistic considerations for antibiotic therapy and the design of new molecules that can better discriminate between pathogen and host.

The Consortium Global IBD Visualization of Epidemiology Studies in the 21st Century (GIVES-21) now publish data on the global prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Nature. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have contributed to the study. While the number of people with incident IBD is relatively constant in Sweden, the prevalence is increasing and 1 per cent of the Swedish population is now estimated to have IBD.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified biomarkers in the blood associated with symptoms of long COVID, particularly severe respiratory disorders. The discovery can pave the way for future diagnosis and treatment. The results are published in the scientific journal Nature Immunology.

On May 1 and May 2 the KI Housing office will be closed for the celebration of Walpurgis Eve and May Day. In Sweden, Walpurgis is celebrated with a big fire to welcome the spring.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a technique that enables efficient delivery of therapeutic proteins and RNA to cells. The method, presented in Nature Communications, shows promising results in animal studies to deliver gene editors and protein therapeutics.

A higher tax on cigarettes in low and middle-income countries can help to reduce child mortality, especially amongst the poorest children, a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in The Lancet Public Health suggests.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University have developed a powerful new technique to better understand how tiny molecules in our cells, called microRNAs, control which genes are turned on or off — a discovery that could improve how we study diseases from cancer to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a new mechanism where circular RNA plays a crucial role in wound healing, which could lead to new therapies to improve wound healing and reduce scarring. The study was published in Advanced Science.

Robin Juthberg, PhD student at the Orthopaedic research group, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Advancing neuromuscular electrical stimulation optimizing comfort and hemodynamic efficiency" on May 16th 2025. Main Supervisor is Paul Ackermann.

A newly published study involving researchers from Karolinska Institutet indicates that prostate cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage through a simple urine sample. With the aid of AI and extensive analyses of gene activity in tumours, they have identified new biomarkers of high diagnostic precision.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have uncovered a unique ability of a special subtype of natural killer cells in the immune system, called adaptive NK cells, to remember ovarian tumours and effectively attack them. The discovery, published in Cancer Immunology Research, could pave the way for new, more powerful immunotherapies for difficult-to-treat cancers.

A study from the Institute of environmental Medicine (IMM) at Karolinska Institutet shows that the chemical di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), which is found in many plastic products, has clear negative effects on hormones and fertility endpoints relevant to female fertility.

They are among the first in Sweden to be vaccinated against the chikungunya virus - a vaccine that is the result of a discovery from their own laboratory.

Welcome to Suganthi Jaganathan´s defense of the thesis ”Applying novel methods to study long-term exposure to air pollution and temperature and annual mortality in India” on May 6th.

Congratulations to Mikael Rydén, the first Swede to be awarded the Camillo Golgi Prize.

Professor Jonas F Ludvigsson at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, and Örebro University Hospital has been awarded the Solstickepriset 2025.

KI Professor Anna Mia Ekström joins the KIB podcast in a conversation about the Face of AIDS Film Archive, the unique film archive documenting the global HIV epidemic 1986-2021. We talk about the importance of the current political landscape in the fight against HIV and AIDS, the results achieved in terms of treatment and the very real risk that these results will be reversed. We talk about the role of documentation and activism: ‘We don't see that today [...] and we know that silence kills.'

The final day to register for the Swedish Suicide Research Conference is rapidly approaching. To secure your spot, please complete your registration by April 28.

The application period for this autumn’s national programmes and courses expired on 15 April. The number of applications to KI’s study programmes increased by 10 per cent compared to last year, with the Speech and Language Pathology Programme seeing the sharpest rise.

A law to quickly limit the spread of infection in the event of a pandemic and research efforts to strengthen Sweden's pandemic preparedness and close knowledge gaps in the event of new outbreaks. This was included in the interim report from the Inquiry on Strengthening Future Infection Control, which KI Professor Jan Albert submitted to the government yesterday.

The report 'Antalet demenssjuka och kostnader för demenssjukdomar i Sverige 2023', commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs last autumn, was recently presented to Anna Tenje, Minister for Older People and Social Security. KI researchers Anders Wimo and Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga have been primarily responsible for the report, which shows a forecast with a great increase for the number of people with dementia by 2050 and for the heavy financial responsibility of municipalities.

Ahead of this year's program start of IMM's global master's program in toxicology, the number of applicants has increased significantly.

Anna-Stina Malmborg, former docent of clinical microbiology at Karolinska Institutet and consultant and director of clinical bacteriology at Karolinska University Hospital for 17 years, has passed away at the age of 95. She and her husband Gunnar Höglund (1931–2019) set up the foundation that finances the Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education (KIPRIME).

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund (Barncancerfonden) has decided to grant funding for paediatric oncology research over the next one to six years. Diagnoses in focus include brain tumours and leukaemia, the most common childhood cancer diagnoses. Together, 29 researchers will share SEK 64 million. Seven of these researchers work at KI.

Despite the widespread use of pain rating scales in neonatal care worldwide, a new Cochrane review shows that current tools for assessing pain in newborns are based on very low quality evidence. According to the review, none of the pain rating scales in use today are methodologically reliable enough to measure pain.

Daniel Helldén, researcher at the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet, is on the Forbes' 30 under 30 Europe 2025 list in the Science & Healthcare category.

From April 15.00 April 17, to April 21, the KI Housing office will be closed for the celebration of the Easter holidays.

On 26–27 March, Sweden hosted its first national meeting on extracellular vesicles (EVs) in Stockholm supported by KI Network and Conference Funding. The event gathered 171 researchers, young scientists, and industry experts from across the country — and beyond — to share the latest discoveries in this fast-growing field.

The government is funding Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) with SEK 80 million in 2025. The special support will be used, among other things, for continued investments in the sustainable development and implementation of precision medicine in cancer care. Richard Rosenquist Brandell, professor at KI and director of GMS, describes the initiative as an important investment in the future of healthcare.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has decided to allocate 4.9 million SEK to the innovation project BrAInChild, as part of the larger initiative within Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS). BrAInChild aims to develop and implement advanced precision diagnostics for children with cancer, potentially leading to more individualized and effective treatments.

The Workshop on Genome Editing Tool Developments and Clinical Applications (#HKCRISPR25) was successfully held at the Hong Kong Science Park in April 2025.

People with a certain heart valve abnormality are at increased risk of severe heart rhythm disorders, even after successful valve surgery. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden published in the European Heart Journal. The condition is more common in women and younger patients with valve disorder and can, in the worst case, lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

Lindsay Davies, an researcher at Karolinska Institutet, has been elected Incoming Vice Chair for Europe within the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT), a global organization that brings together scientists, clinicians, regulators, and industry partners in the rapidly growing field of advanced therapies.

In a recently published article in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet present results indicating that repeated treatment with piperaquine, an antimalarial drug, can lead to parasites developing decreased sensitivity to this drug. These findings may impact the use of piperaquine in the future.