News archive

Children whose mothers have taken antiseizure drugs during pregnancy are more likely than others to receive a neuropsychiatric diagnosis. This is according to a comprehensive study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and elsewhere, published in Nature Communications. However, the researchers emphasise that the absolute risk is low.

Tips from KI Grants Office about current calls.

The Olle Söder Award and Research Scholarships was presented at a Ceremony at Karolinska University Hospital.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) has published this year's 100 list of the most promising research projects from Sweden's colleges and universities. All applications to the list have been reviewed by IVA's expert group and the selected projects are considered to have great potential to benefit society. The list includes several projects involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Mehdi Astaraki, a specialist in artificial intelligence (AI) for medical imaging, has achieved remarkable success in the MICCAI BraTS Challenges. He secured first place in the Pediatric Brain Tumor Segmentation and second place in the Meningioma RT Segmentation categories.

The Swedish Brain Foundation has awarded its grants. NVS received five research grants and one scholarship.

The Swedish Research Council has awarded grants in areas such as medicine and health to 121 researchers at KI. In total, KI is allocated SEK 682,507,429 for the period 2024-2030.

The Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet has decided on recipients from the Jonas Söderquist scholarship foundation for basic research in virology and immunology. The awarded are Benjamin Nilsson Payant at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology and Egle Kvedaraite at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics.

For three days 1 300 EMTs, researchers, health professionals, country delegates and others representing 130 countries gathered in Abu Dhabi for the World Health Organization’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Global Meeting 2024. Members of the research group Global Disaster Medicine – Health Needs and Response, at the Department of Global Public Health at KI, attended the meeting and presented their work to build the EMT global network.

When the prestigious World Laureates Association (WLA) gathered members and invited guests for a conference in Shanghai in October, Robert Harris and other leading KI researchers were on hand to lecture on current research in life science and develop KI's international network of contacts. Among the participants were Joakim Franck, David Gross and nine other Nobel laureates.

The Athena Prize 2024 is awarded to Care to Translate, a digital translation tool adapted for healthcare. The tool was developed to give patients with different language backgrounds the opportunity to communicate with healthcare providers in an efficient way. The purpose of the Athena prize is to draw attention to and reward research and innovations that have taken place in collaboration between academia, healthcare and industry.

While Karolinska Institutet has solid outreach procedures, there are several areas that could do with improvement, according to a report by the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) on Swedish universities and university colleges that was presented to the government on October 31.

Congratulations to the researchers at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MEB) who received a total of nearly 86 million SEK from the Swedish funding agencies (FORTE, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society and the Erling-Persson Foundation)!

Elisabet Stener-Victorin has received the Ricardo Azziz Distinguished Researcher Award from the Androgen Excess and PCO Society.

Karolinska Institutet has appointed an advisor to President Annika Östman Wernerson for co-operation with the healthcare sector. On 1 December, Maria Eriksdotter, Professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, will take up this position.

‘By making this change journey together, we can build a stronger future for FyFa and ensure that physiology and pharmacology remain central subjects in education and research at KI - and in the world' says Head of Department Sophie Erhardt.

Dr Isabell Brikell has been awarded the Kathy Sylva ‘Rising Star’ Award 2024 from ACAMH - The Association for Child and Adolescent Health.

A big congratulations to Caroline Graff, Wim Grooten, and Malin Nygren-Bonnier for this!

Congratulations to Anna Marseglia, Adrián Carballo Casla, and Minjia Mo, who will share 12.5 million SEK from Forte.

Congratulations to six researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery who receives research grant from the Swedish Cancer Society in their latest call.

Jonna Bister from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending her thesis titled "Exploring Human Uterine Immune Cell Dynamics with a Focus on Natural Killer cells and MAIT cells", on 15 November, 2024. Main supervisor is Niklas Björkström (MedH).

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Michigan State University, have introduced an innovative approach to improve plasma proteome profiling. The method enables the detection of low-abundance proteins in plasma.

Congratulations to Linda Björkhem-Bergman and Erland Axelsson for their respective research grants!

Researchers at the Department of Cell and Molacular Biology, Karolinska Institutet have made a major discovery in how human cells produce energy. Their study, published in the EMBO Journal, reveals the detailed mechanisms of how mitochondria process transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules, which are essential for energy production.

The Swedish government has presented an updated strategy for life science with the aim of making Sweden a leading nation in the field. Annika Östman Wernerson, President of KI, has been a member of the advisory group behind the strategy.

On Monday 25 November the fire alarm system in Neo will be tested. During the test, sirens will sound, but you are not expected to evacuate.

We congratulate the eight researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge who have been awarded grants from the Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden) for the period 2025-2029. Together, the MedH researchers are awarded grants of nearly SEK 30 million.

Through the research group Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Responses, KI is one of three universities that are part of the Erasmus Mundus Master's programme Public Health in Disasters. The programme is a unique degree in public health in disasters, that provides students with both practical and theoretical knowledge of public health, health care in disasters and global health care and health systems.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) celebrates the 25th anniversary of its International Staff Services, which has supported international researchers, doctoral students and their hosting departments since 1999. Held at Campus Solna’s A Working Lab, the event on Tuesday highlighted the importance of collaboration to support KI’s success as a global research hub.

As global populations age and the prevalence of obesity and metabolic disorders rises, understanding the complex relationships between body mass index (BMI), metabolic health, and aging becomes increasingly critical.

Congratulations to the 7 researchers at Department of Laboratory Medicine (Labmed) who received grants from Cancerfonden 2025-2029.

On November 7, 2024, the Swedish Cancer Society's Research Committee awarded Rachael a project grant of 3 million SEK over a 3-year period for her research entitled - “Oral Complications Post- Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation to Model the Transition of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders to Invasive Oral Cancer.”

Tips from Grants Office regarding current calls

On 12 and 13 November a maintenance test of the power will require sequential, brief (5-15 minute) shutdowns of all power in each section of the Neo building. Research groups are recommended to check their equipment afterwards.

The first storm of the autumn lashed Stockholm City Hall, harassing the flames of the outdoor candles and braziers, as the guests arrived to witness 133 doctors and a record 35 jubilee doctors receive their accolades at the KI conferment ceremony. It was an evening of celebration and joy, an evening of fresh opportunities and memories of a long career. It was, in short, a magical evening for the 900 or so guests assembled in the Blue Hall.

Congratulations to our seven researchers at the Division of Neuro, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, who have been granted over 31 million SEK in project grants from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) in their call Medicine and Health, as well as International Collaborations in Neurodegenerative Diseases (JPND), 2024.

On 5 November, a special annual ceremony was held in Aula Medica. Thirteen international master’s students from eleven different countries were honoured with Karolinska Institutet’s Global Master's Scholarship.

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) has decided on grant applications within Medicine and Health 2024. Researchers at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics were granted over 50 Mkr together.

The Swedish Cancer Society has decided on the research grants for 2024. Researchers from the Department of Oncology-Pathology at Karolinska Institutet received a total of over 70 million SEK.

The Committee for Research has decided to award grants to 15 networks within the call for funds for interdisciplinary research networks. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen scientific quality and promote collaborations across institutional boundaries.

The Karolinska Institutet and Mayo Clinic are pleased to announce the availability of limited competitive funds for short-term travel by faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, students and/or trainees between the partner institutions to plan or conduct collaborative interactions.

Tahmina Akhter from the Biosciences and Nutrition Unit at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, is defending her thesis titled "Classification of asthma with cross-cohort clinical data and with enhancer mediated gene regulation", on 15 November, 2024. Main supervisor is Carsten Daub (MedH).

Clinics and hospitals currently defer medication abortion until ultrasound confirms a pregnancy inside the uterus. However, a large international study led by researchers from Karolinska Institutet now indicates that treatment can be equally effective and safe even before the sixth week of pregnancy. The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Professor of developmental biology and former member of the Nobel Assembly Björn Vennström has passed away at the age of 75. He is survived by his wife Kristina, his children Karin and Anders and grandchildren.

Researchers from the Department of Women's and Children's Health received more than SEK 35 million when the Swedish Research Council decided on calls within Medicine and health in 2024.

Viktoria Hansson works at KI as a coordinator for students with disabilities . She is responsible for specialised study adaptations for KI students, known as pedagogical accommodations. We asked her a few common questions about this support.

Javier Leal Martin is postdoctoral researcher who joined ARC on 1 November 2024. He will be working in Davide Liborio Veterano's research group.

It´s time again for a new round of our joint exercise activity Pep at Work.