News archive

The air quality in Swedish cities has improved continuously over the last twenty years, according to a research collaboration in which the Institute for Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet participates. Several thousand deaths may have been prevented every year, thanks to better air quality. However, many people are still exposed to air pollution that exceeds the World Health Organization’s recommendations.

Olof Akre, Professor at Karolinska Institutet and Head of Operations at the Department of Thematic Studies – Cancer, will be the new Director of Research, Education and Development (R&D) at Karolinska University Hospital. He succeeds Annika Tibell, who is retiring.

Sweden and the USA have previously enjoyed strong collaboration in the field of cancer care and research, and now it is further strengthened through a bilateral agreement. The purpose is to promote exchange between the two countries in both cancer research and the implementation of this research within cancer care, including both prevention and improved quality of life.

The EU Horizon Changemaker project, led by Kristi Sidney Annerstedt, on sustainable adolescent nutrition in Kenya, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, successfully completed the first Consortium meeting.

“All researchers who have the opportunity should take the chance to teach. The contact with the students gives a lot, this is where you meet the future”, says Annika Östman Wernerson.
The kidney and kidney diseases are on the agenda for future nurses and radigraphers on a Thursday morning in February. In front of the podium in 4U, Flemingsberg, stands KI:s President Annika Östman Wernerson.

The university management is spending the spring term visiting KI’s departments to learn more about their various activities and to strengthen internal dialogue. It is now the middle of March, and half of the departments have been visited.

Anna Kågesten is among the eight candidates that has been awarded funding within Karolinska Institutet's recruitment program for Assistant Professors.

A comprehensive registry study from Karolinska Institutet shows that children of women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) right before or during pregnancy are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD later in life. The study is published in the journal European Psychiatry.

On Thursday, 14 March, the fourth policy lab was arranged since the start in October 2023. The participants were invited to follow the journey of a Swedish Government Official Report and discuss when and how researchers can provide input in the most useful way. It was an educational session where everyone had the opportunity to share experiences, ask questions and benefit from expertise in the field, from both inside and outside KI.

International Summer School of Research Internship on Basic Medical Sciences at Shandong University during the summer of 2024.

Global Research Immersion Program for Young Scientists (GripS) at Fudan university during the summer of 2024.

Nina Viberg and Tobias Alfvén have received funding from the Swedish Institute for a one year project to support Ukrainian PhD students and young researchers. The aim of the project is to build capacity for PhD student and young researcher so that they can effectively contribute to health systems strengthening especially for children and adolescents in deoccupied territories in Ukraine.

Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) is satisfied with KI’s action report, following the thematic evaluation of the nursing programs, and considers the measures implemented by KI to be reasonable and appropriate.

The alarm will sound throughout the building at ANA 8.

In February 2024, the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health and GPH colleagues had the pleasure to accompany Vice President Martin Bergö to Makerere University in Uganda, a long-term partner of Karolinska Institutet. During the visit the vice president was introduced to the Karolinska Institutet – Makerere collaboration and got the possibility to meet colleagues and see different projects.

The project "A Healthy School Start" is a family support program developed by the research group Community Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Department of Global Public Health, to offer an adapted approach for student health and teachers to provide support to families with children on healthy lifestyles. The program has been positively received by politicians in Region Stockholm, who have now allocated funds in the budget for further dissemination.

On Wednesday, March 6, the university management, President Annika Östman Wernerson, Vice President Martin Bergö and University Director Veronika Sundström visited the Department of Global Public Health, to gain a better insight into the department's activities. Key issues discussed included global awareness, the department's strengths and how dialogue can strengthen cooperation. In addition to the university management, the department's management team and Dean Carl Johan Sundberg participated.

Are you planning an event for autumn 2024 being aimed at the public? Schedule it between 4 to 14 October and be a part of Nobel Calling Stockholm! Nobel Calling Stockholm offers inspiring events and educational meetings in the spirit of knowledge.

The 2023 AI Swede of the Year feels no need to be at the center of research. Yet that is exactly where he is. The orthopaedic surgeon and researcher Max Gordon was an early adopter of artificial intelligence. Now everyone else wants to know how to do it.

Improved glycemic control protects the oocytes, but not uterine environment in diabetes, according to researchers from Karolinska Institutet. Their findings based on studies of Swedish registry data, animal models and human samples, are now published in EMBO Reports as the cover story.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University offers an opportunity to apply for a Summer Research Internship for the summer of 2024. Deadline for application May 30.

After the egg has been fertilized by a sperm, the surrounding egg coat tightens, mechanically preventing the entry of additional sperm and the ensuing death of the embryo. This is according to a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in the journal Cell. The work also explains how mutations in egg coat proteins can cause female infertility and may eventually lead to new contraceptive methods.

The Strategic Research Area Neuroscience, StratNeuro, awards a total of 6,400,000 SEK to support new technologies and methods to study the nervous system.

The Strategic Research Area Neuroscience, StratNeuro, announces up to ten grants to support postdoctoral researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Last week, the University Management visited CNS as part of their tour to meet all of KI’s Departments.

Tips from KI Grants Office regarding current calls

The Swedish Kidney Foundation (Njurfonden) distributes more than SEK 7 million to research into kidney diseases. This is the largest sum since the fund was established and is awarded to 40 researchers, 19 of whom are active at Karolinska Institutet. The grants go to research related to chronic kidney disease, dialysis and transplantation.

On March 1, Ingrid Delin started as coordinator in the FM laboratory safety team, Biomedicum.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Brain, reveals a connection between the protein DEK and early neuronal changes in Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers found that lower DEK levels in vulnerable neurons lead to altered neuronal activity and Tau protein accumulation, offering insights into early-stage Alzheimer’s pathology and potential therapeutic targets.

Konstantinos Meletis at Karolinska Institutet has been awarded a prize from the Arvid Carlsson Foundation for his outstanding work in neuropsychiatric diseases.

In recent years, the treatment landscape for solid tumors has undergone a notable change. With new cancer treatments, the future looks brighter for many young cancer patients, making fertility issues and future family planning an important aspect. Six specialists in oncology and onco-fertility at the Department of Oncology-Pathology join forces to compile knowledge and recommendations on this important issue.

Height and weight charts have been used for decades to monitor child development. A paper in The Lancet now presents a new application that enables healthcare professionals to keep a regular check on the development of one of the body’s most vital organs – the lungs. Lung Function Tracker is the product of an international collaboration involving researchers at KI, the University of Barcelona, Spain, the Imperial College London, the UK, and the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have shown a link between use of medication for ADHD and a reduced risk of premature death. The risk of death due to unnatural causes, such as accidents and overdoses, can be reduced by a quarter, according to the new study published in JAMA.

KI researcher Laura Baranello has been awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for her researches into the interaction between the cancer-driving protein MYC and topoisomerase enzymes. Her aim is to identify drugs for more targeted cancer therapy with fewer side-effects. Laura Baranello’s MYCinTOPshape project has been awarded approximately EUR 2 million to be spread over five years.

If you find cleaning boring, you might think of it as a form of exercise. But is that true? Anna-Karin Welmer, senior lecturer in physiotherapy, gives us the answer.

In the healthcare setting, keeping things clean can be vital to prevent the spread of dangerous bacteria. But in a household, what’s best for your health – to live pretty dirty or to be a clean freak? Read our interviews with the researchers who have a pure interest in cleaning.

Researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), Magnus Tobiasson and Eva Hellström-Lindberg have together with the Nordic MDS group developed a method that makes it possible to detect early relapse of the blood cancer myelodysplastic syndrome after stem cell transplantation. The method makes it possible to initiate early treatment and thus hopefully prevent relapse. The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Pradeepa Pushparaj wrote her thesis at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology. She is awarded Sven Gard´s scholarship for the best theses in virology during 2023.

The BIGS Neuroscience Summer School provides a systematic and comprehensive introduction to key neuroscience topics for first- to second-year PhD students in June 2024.

Adam Mitangu Fimbo is a doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet, but not for much longer. On April 26 he will defend is doctoral thesis titled Pharmacovigilance of Mass Drug Administration as Preventive Chemotherapy to Control and Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis in Tanzania. Meet the Director General of Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority, and expert on the safety and quality of drug administration.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet reveals that immune cells in the liver react to high cholesterol levels and eat up excess cholesterol that can otherwise cause damage to arteries. The findings, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, suggest that the response to the onset of atherosclerosis begins in the liver.

This is a summary of the hybrid information meeting that prof Maria Eriksdotter, head of the project steering group, together with the departmental heads of MedH and BioNut held on 11 March addressing all staff at BioNut and MedH with a special focus on updates in digital systems such as Primula and UBW.

The Instituto de Neurociencias (San Juan de Alicante, Spain) offers up to 6 International Scholarships for the “Master’s Degree in Neurosciences: from the bench to the bedside” during Oct 2024 - June 2025.

Professor Margareta (Meta) Blombäck, one of the pioneers in the field of hemostasis and thrombosis, passed away peacefully on March 7th , 2024 in Stockholm.

Professor emeritus Lennart Levi has passed away at the age of 93. He is survived by his wife Inger and sons Richard and Ragnar and their families. Töres Theorell and Jan Palmblad, both professors emeriti at Karolinska Institutet, write an obituary of Sweden’s first professor of psychosocial environmental medicine, specialising in occupational medicine.

A large international research study, COSMOS, initiated by Karolinska Institutet and Imperial College London, UK, has studied over 250,000 mobile phone users to investigate whether those who use mobile phones a lot and for a long time have a higher risk of brain tumours than others. The study, published in Environment International, found no association between long-term cell phone use and the risk of brain tumors.

New research from Karolinska Institutet shows how oestrogen protects against MASLD, a fatty liver disease that has increased dramatically during the current obesity epidemic. The study, published in Molecular Systems Biology, shows how a new drug under development could become a future treatment for fatty liver disease and liver cancer.

Susanne talks under the title "How to improve life after stroke?" For those who suffer a stroke, life's conditions, such as mobility, the ability to speak and work, can change drastically. But with the right interventions from an occupational therapist, such as researcher Susanne Guidetti, a lot can be improved at best.

Through a new call form, the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund is funding two research programmes that will look at different types of unwanted side effects, primarily from chemotherapy. Precision medicine and the opportunities offered by the development of biomarkers are common to the two programmes, which are led by KI researchers Susanna Ranta and Kenny Rodriguez-Wallberg, respectively, and which now share SEK 19 million over four years.

Emma Eliasson, postdoctoral researcher at the National centre for suicide research and prevention (NASP), is featured in Springer Nature Communities to discuss POTION – Promoting Social Interaction through Emotional Body Odours – a research project that aims to explore whether chemosignals, that can be found in human sweat, in combination with a mindfulness treatment, can lower social anxiety.