News archive

In animal studies, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found a possible mechanism for how the artificial sweetener aspartame may contribute to atherosclerosis – a common cause of cardiovascular disease and disease of the blood vessels in the brain. The study is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

What pressing issues do you think the university needs to address better? Take this opportunity to raise matters that you would like the academic vice presidents for KI’s the faculty board’s committees to pursue more actively.

As always at this time of the year, KI submits its annual report and budgetary data to the government. Our university is currently enjoying an upward trend, and this is something we can feel really proud about. As one of Europe’s leading medical universities and one of the foremost in the world, we are able to attract serious research grants, top-tier researchers and highly qualified students.

The Erling-Persson Foundation is donating SEK 8 million to KI researcher Johan Ericson to fund the verification of his ATMP (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products) concept with the aim of producing a highly effective restorative Parkinson’s therapy.

Caterina Gregorio has received funding in the context of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship within the area of intersecting biostatistics and ageing research for her project entitled "LETMEAGE- A complex system approach to metrics of aging for identifying personalised interventions”.

The new educational organisation, launched on 18 June 2024, involved the creation of two new working groups, in addition to the Education Board (EB). These two are the Steering Group for Teaching at FyFa (STUFF) and an Team for Undergraduate Education (Team GUA). Johanna, what is the latest on STUFF?

The developing fetus is more susceptible to external influences than previously thought. A new study, published in Science Advances, shows that factors such as stress could affect the development of the fetal brain.

KI has signed a letter of intent with University College London (UCL) within the framework of the Stockholm trio university alliance, comprising KI, KTH and Stockholm University. The new agreement aims to expand research collaboration between the universities, initially focusing on sustainability, the climate crisis, and mental health.

In the beginning of 2025 we, the Department of Medicine Solna (MedS), asked the library to generate bibliometric data, as one approach to gauge our scientific activity and contribution to knowledge production.

Do you want to use video more effectively in your teaching? With Canvas Studio, you can easily upload, record, and share videos directly in Canvas – without needing external platforms like OneDrive or ScreenPal. Plus, Studio automatically generates subtitles, which you and your colleagues can review and publish together – a convenient way to ensure accessibility in your video content.

Carolina Maya-González, from the research group Rare Diseases at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Novel genetic causes of childhood cancer predisposition" on March 21st, 2025.
Main supervisor is Ann Nordgren.

We are happy to introduce new colleagues at the Department of Laboratory Medicine. Welcome everyone!

Six out of every ten people in the world lack access to safe medical oxygen which is contributing to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year and reducing the quality of life for millions more, according to a new report published in The Lancet Global Health.

Children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) have an elevated risk of developing psychiatric and physical conditions, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Pediatrics reports. The study highlights the importance of early identification to improve care of these children.

Reading ability among young people is declining, and it is the most vulnerable students who are hardest hit, according to speech language pathologist and researcher Anna Eva Hallin. In her research, she aims to understand how best to support students with language and reading difficulties.

How can we create learning environments that support all students, including those with neurodevelopmental conditions? Our new self-study toolkit provides practical strategies rooted in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to help faculty foster flexible, strength-based, and inclusive classrooms.

A new thesis from Karolinska Institutet aims to advance our understanding of the bidirectional relationship between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronic kidney diseases (CKD) through large-scale epidemiological studies utilizing real-world data.

The NASP team recently participated in the latest EXPERIENCE Consortium Meeting, held on February 6-7, 2025, in Paris, France. The meeting brought together consortium members to discuss the latest advancements in the project, which includes the testing of Virtual Reality (VR) for clinical applications.

In a recently published study in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, scientists from the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet, have discovered that water molecules play a crucial role in helping proteins, specifically transcription factors, read and regulate the human genome.

A new study published in the scientific journal BMJ Open has provided important insights into how older patients recover cognitively after hip replacement surgery. The research, conducted at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, focused on patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty, a common operation for the elderly.

From the 1 of March 2025, Blombäcks väg will permanently replace Retzius väg and Liljestrands väg will replace von Eulers väg on KI Campus Solna.
The buildings along Blombäcks väg have also been renumbered, now starting from 11 instead of 1. Retzius väg 1 is now Blombäcks väg 11.

Patrik Blomberg and Ibrahim Topal are the newly appointed presidents of Medicinska Föreningen (Medical Association) and Odontologiska Föreningen (Dental Association). Both have previous experience in student union work.

The Social inequalities in ageing network (SIA), led by Neda Agahi and Johan Fritzell, has received a three-year grant from Forte. This is a continuation of a Nordic network involving several leading Nordic researchers and their junior colleagues emanating from the earlier SIA programme. The SIA Network will receive a total of SEK 446,000 over three years.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered new insights into brain changes in Parkinson’s disease using advanced imaging techniques.

Together with two other researchers, from the University of Copenhagen (Konstantin Khodosevich and Alicia Lundby) and the University of Zürich in Switzerland (Urs Meyer), Carl Sellgren Majkowitz from the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology will receive DKK 30 million from the Lundbeck Foundation.

In a recent podcast on Global Health, Anna-Theresia Ekman discusses her work in global health and sustainable development. She shares insights on interdisciplinary research, education, with a special focus on her research on children with developmental disabilities in low-income countries.

The Lennart Nilsson foundation was established in 1998 in order to bestow an award in recognition of the world-renowned Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson and his extraordinary body of work. Its main aim is to promote education, training and research within the medical, biological and engineering sciences through the use of images.

Karolinska Institutet announces that its official account on the platform X (formerly Twitter) will be deactivated. The account will remain, but will no longer be actively used.

In November 2024, KI students participated in an exciting hackathon organized by NeurotechEU at Boğaziçi University in Turkey. Bringing together students from various disciplines and backgrounds, the event provided a dynamic environment for collaborative problem-solving in neurotechnology.

A new Swedish study has, for the first time, shown a link between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cognitive decline in dementia patients. The study, published in the scientific journal Neurology, emphasizes the importance of careful monitoring and management to prevent cognitive decline.

During 2025 the Legal Office will initiate a 30-minute educational webinar programme, including time for questions from the participants. The chosen topics for these webinars are ones that usually generate a lot of questions. All webinars will be held in both Swedish and English.

The European NUCLEAR-network is announcing 16 positions of Doctoral Candidates to build the future experts in metabolic regulation and genome function. One position is currently announced at Karolinska Institutet.

Women who have experienced pregnancy complications have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Now, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the European Heart Journal shows that sisters of women with complicated pregnancies are also at higher risk, even if they had uncomplicated pregnancies. The findings suggest that genes and shared environmental factors may influence the association between pregnancy complications and cardiovascular disease risk.

Welcome to Family Day at the Health Hub on the 15th of Februay.

The Committee for Higher Education annually announces funding for pedagogical development projects, and Nicola Orsini was one of the researchers at KI whose application was approved and received a grant of 722,000 SEK.

Advanced Hazmat Life Support (AHLS) is a brand-new course in Sweden, that is being taught for the first time at Karolinska Institutet. During two intense days in February, medical doctors, nurses, paramedics and people with special responsibilities in the field of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials) are trained in medical care in the event of exposure to hazardous chemicals.

StratNeuro aims to support the development and dissemination of new technologies and therefore announces a new round of this funding call.

On 20 January, Forskarwebben was shut down and replaced by VIS, the new system for financial project overviews, which automatically retrieves and compiles data from different source systems, saving time and simplifying report generation. We spoke to Hannes Asplund, finance manager at GPH about what it means for you as a researcher and the support available in the new system VIS.

The teaching and learning unit is launching a new network within Karolinska Institutet for educators called HEarts – Health Education Arts. The overall idea is to explore how arts and humanities can be integrated into our curricula to enhance teaching and learning.

Désirée Lichtenstein combines her doctoral education with public health work as a resident in social medicine. She works at the Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine in Stockholm and a PhD student in Anna-Mia's research group Global Sexual Health, with a strong interest in reproductive health.

KI NeurotechEU steering group is pleased to announce the availability of limited competitive funds for KI faculty, staff and/or students to conduct collaborative interactions within the field of Neurotechnology.

The school shooting in Örebro has provoked many reactions. Here is some information on security at KI for students and employees, and details about whom to turn to if you have questions or feel anxious.

We congratulate Tobias Granberg, Docent and research group leader at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS), appointed adjunct professor of neuroradiology.

In a recent Q&A session on SVT News, trauma expert Björn Tingberg answered questions about children's health and trauma.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are part of a research project that has recently been awarded a grant from the EU's Innovative Research Programme. The project aims to develop methods to facilitate the identification of patients in need of treatment and the choice of treatment for viral infections.

Professor Thomas Perlmann was awarded a medal by HM the King at a formal ceremony at Stockholm Palace on 4 February.

When Sophie took over as Head of Department nearly three years ago, she and the management team initiated a change programme aimed at creating a stronger department, with collaboration, sustainability and excellence in both research and teaching as its guiding stars. Now, the time has come to involve all FyFa staff in the change process, through a series of workshops called FyFa Dialogue.

The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) is hosting the fifth edition of International Staff Week May 19 – 23, 2025.

A number of Swedish and international funding bodies have their application deadlines during the coming months. There is now an updated list of upcoming grant opportunities. Here are some tips on how to act.

As of this quarter, KI's computer rental service has been in place for three years. This means it is now time to replace the computers introduced into the service when it was launched.