News archive

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified for the first time a cell type in the brain of mice that is integral to attention. By manipulating the activity of this cell type, the scientists were able to enhance attention in mice. The results, which are published in the journal Cell, add to the understanding of how the brain’s frontal lobes work and control behaviour.

Paolo Parini is a researcher in cardiometabolic diseases and senior Physician at Endocrinology Clinic. Since September 2015 his professorship is shared between Department of Medicine, Huddinge and Department of Laboratory Medicine.

In recent decades much hope was based on the development of personalised drug treatments, in which genetic tests determine the choice and optimal dose of medication for each individual patient. However, the real breakthrough is still to be seen, and now researchers at Karolinska Institutet show in two separate scientific papers that many more gene variants affect how a person responds to medication than previously thought – and thus that today’s analytical tools are too coarse.

The number of articles citing the lyrics of Bob Dylan in the biomedical literature has increased exponentially since 1990, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet. The results are being published in the special Christmas issue of The BMJ.

A recently published study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) at Karolinska Institutet shows that exposure to noise during pregnancy can damage the child’s hearing, with an 80 percent increase in risk in occupational environments with particularly high decibel levels. The results strongly indicate that pregnant women should not be exposed to loud noise.

Karl Deisseroth is a professor at Stanford, where his group has developed two spectacular scientific techniques – optogenetics and Clarity. He has also been working since 2013 at Karolinska Institutet, which has just invested in a Clarity facility.

Head of Department Professor Marie Arsenian Henriksson is featured researcher of the month at The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation (Barncancerfonden).

Nobel Week is soon to come, bringing together all the Nobel Laureates in Stockholm. One of them, Tomas Lindahl, one of this year's three Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, made many of his pioneering discoveries at Karolinska Institutet.

A population of ‘stop cells’ in the brainstem is essential for the ability of mice to stop their locomotion, according to a new study by scientists at Karolinska Institutet. In an article published in the journal Cell, they report a brainstem pathway specifically dedicated to enforce locomotor arrest: its selective activation stops locomotion, while its silencing favors it. The study thus identifies a novel descending modality essential for gating the episodic nature of locomotor behavior.

Sonia Lain has been appointed Professor.

A mechanical valve prosthesis has a better survival record than a biological valve prosthesis, according to a large registry study from Karolinska Institutet. The finding, which is published in the European Heart Journal, can be highly significant, since the use of biological valve prostheses has increased in all age groups in recent years.

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have high levels of androgens in their blood, which has been assumed able to affect fetal development during pregnancy. An international team of researchers led from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has now identified a hormonal mechanism that might explain why women with PCOS run a higher risk of developing symptoms of mental ill-health, such as anxiety and depression, in adulthood.

New research from Karolinska Institutet shows that hypersexual disorder – known popularly as sex addiction – can be linked to hyperactive stress systems. In a stress regulation test using the cortisone drug dexamethasone, men with hypersexual disorder showed higher levels of stress hormones than controls, a finding that the researchers hope will contribute to improved therapy for this patient group. The results are published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

Jiří Bártek, Professor of Cancer Biology at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics researches the checkpoint systems that monitor cell division in our bodies. These systems are there to ensure that division occurs at the correct pace and to check the quality of DNA replication. Flaws in these controls can lead to cancer and affect ageing and immunity.

Our sensitivity to harmful substances is determined by our genes. But such substances can also reprogram our DNA, so called epigenetic changes, in response to the environment. Karin Broberg, Professor of Environmental Medicine specialising in Genetics and Epigenetics at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, researches these links between heredity and environment.