News archive

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.

Tips from KI Grants Office about current calls.

KTH, SU, and KI, also called the Stockholm Trio, have joined forces for climate action. Part of this collaboration has been a student competition with the overarching theme ”Climate and Health.” Over a two-week period, teams of students have collaborated to tackle challenges on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the city more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Employees at BioNut and MedH will notice changes in several digital systems from April. The daily work at the departments will continue as before, but employees at BioNut will have limited access to UBW and Primula for a couple of weeks.

A research team has examined the link between adverse childhood experiences and the risk of mental health problems later in life, according to a study in JAMA Psychiatry. The researchers from Karolinska Institutet and University of Iceland have found that the risk of suffering from mental illness later in life among those experiencing significant adversity in childhood can be partly explained by factors shared by family members, such as genetics and environment.

The two conversation rooms Betacellen and Levercellen on floor 7 are now bookable meeting rooms and are available in the Outlook calendar together with the other meeting rooms.

Queen Silvia was present at the certification which took place at the Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge on February 22. The certification was possible thanks to all 180 employees at the unit having undergone training in dementia care (Silvia training).

The prize recognizes one or more researchers/research students who have distinguished themselves through outstanding utilization of research results that have led to innovation. Anyone can nominate one or more candidates. Self-nomination is accepted.

Anna Beskow, head of Uppsala Biobank at Uppsala University, will be chairing the external group that will be reviewing the investigative team’s report and conclusions concerning the freezer failure at Neo. The external review group, which comprises four independent experts, will present its report to KI president Annika Östman Wernerson.

Are you thinking of applying for an exchange while studying a programme at KI, but don’t know where to start? Get inspiration from a current exchange student and read the answers to some of the most common questions.

On March 21, the Archive and registry unit will give an open lecture in English on registration and archiving of public documents.

Reykjavik University (the Institute for Biomedical and Neural Engineering) provides Masters students and PhD candidates in neuroscientific disciplines, bioengineering, clinical or neuro psychology, data science, and neurobiological sciences, with an opportunity to participate in a summer school (on site) during May 28th - 30th 2024. Last day of application March 8. If questions and/or interested contact Mia Bjerke.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found that spiders have a special trick to make their silk strong, by using a natural biocompatible molecular enhancer. By using the same secret the researchers are able to create biomimetic spider-silk fibers in a non-toxic way.

Karolinska Institutet has decided to award honorary doctorates to Ashley Moffett, professor emerita at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Peter Thelin, chair of the Swedish Brain Fund, for their important contributions to science and KI, respectively. The formal ceremony will take place at the conferment ceremony in Stockholm City Hall on 26 April.

The Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Kragujevac in Serbia has now formalized a multi-year cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.

Umeå professor Oliver Billker is awarded the Medicine Doctor Axel Hirsch prize 2024 for his outstanding research in the field of malaria.

People with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of stroke and a worsened outcome after suffering from it. Now, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet have shown that stroke outcome is significantly improved in mice with obesity and type 2 diabetes who have been treated with the commonly used diabetic drugs SGLT-2 inhibitors. The results are published in the scientific journal Cardiovascular Diabetology and may have clinical relevance for stroke rehabilitation in type 2 diabetes.

The government has decided to appoint Sophia Hober as chairman of KI's board effective 1 February 2024. She replaces Göran Stiernstedt, who becomes chairman of Karolinska University Hospital's board.

In a study published in Nature Communications, KI researchers have revealed a fascinating discovery that could be important in cancer treatments. This new insight involves c-MYC, a protein component that is central to cancer development.

A decision taken on 20 February has given KI its first language policy, which will provide guidance on general matters relating to language and its use for all Karolinska Institutet employees.

A recent study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University has found that cognitive impairment varies significantly among individuals with newly diagnosed psychosis.

KI bachelor, master’s and doctoral students of KI within the fields of biomedicine and life sciences are invited to apply to the 7th International BonnBrain³ Conference hosted by the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, in collaboration with the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar.

In 2024, the scholarship recipients Emma Hagström Molin and Anna Svensson, funded by the Catarina and Sven Hagströmer Foundation, will be working as embedded researchers at the Hagströmer Library at KI.

In the beginning of 2024 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.

An updated edition of the book "Essential Guide to Blood Coagulation" will be released during the fall of 2024. The first edition of the book was published in Swedish in 1997. Since 2010, the book has been published in English and it has become a valued source of quick information about coagulation conditions, investigation and treatment. The book is now being renewed as new investigation and treatment options have been added.

Karolinska Institutet is to be an engine driving the realisation of Sweden’s potential in the field of life science. As an important step in this direction, Professor Anna Martling has been appointed Scientific Director Life Science at KI. Professor Martling has spent the past three years leading KI’s efforts to implement precision medicine in healthcare, a remit that is now being expanded to cover KI’s overall work in life science.

On Thursday 22 February, the award "För nit och redlighet i rikets tjänst ("Zealous and Devoted Service of the Kingdom") for 2023 was presented at the Swedish Society of Medicine. A total of 30 employees at KI were recognized for their long and impeccable service. During the ceremony, Gunnar Nilsson and John Skår, recipients of KI's Silver Medal 2023, were also honoured.

Congratulations to the three researchers at the Department of Laboratory Medicine (Labmed) who have been allocated Faculty Funded Career Positions and Consolidator grants.

Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga has been awarded the SFOepi consolidator bridging grant for the project entitled "Multimorbidity and kidney function in old age: longitudinal trajectories and synergistic effects". The amount granted is SEK 3,600,000 for the period 2023-2025.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a link between a rare and severe form of psoriatic arthritis and an enzyme that produces oxygen radicals. The study, published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, opens up new ways to slow down or stop the disease progression.

Welcome to an inspiring discussion about planetary health, what is happening at KI in this field, and how you can get involved.
March 7, at 12:15 - 13:00 via Zoom.

Two researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded grants from the PolyBio Research Foundation totalling USD 1.85 million dollars (SEK 19 million) for research into long COVID. It is hoped that the studies will provide valuable insights that can promote the development of more efficacious treatments for long COVID, which is still a puzzling condition.

The Pohjola prize it is one of the three major medical awards given out in Finland. This year the 20,000 euro award is received by Professor Mats Brommels, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME) for his significant work for the development of medicine and health service systems in Finland.

Tips from Grants Office regarding current calls

CLINTEC and Heart lab. will move lab/staff/PI:s to floor 7 in the end of week 8/beginning of week 9.

The administration of BioNut has moved to temporary locations on floor 8. The KI president and the Neo manager will also move to temporary places on floor 8 in the end of February. In April, when floor 8 has been rebuilt and MedH administrative staff has moved in, a final move will take place.

The increase in gun violence and Sweden's changing security situation has prompted researcher Mattias Günther and his team to reorient their research. In episode #140 of KI's podcast Medicinvetarna, he tells us how to reduce deaths from severe bleeding - and how best to protect yourself.

The internal investigation into the freezer malfunction at Neo on 22 December is expected to deliver its report in early March. A priority concern for the investigative teams has been ascertaining both the immediate and the underlying technical, organisational and other causes of the incident in which the automatic refilling of the cryo tanks with liquid nitrogen was interrupted, causing the temperature in 16 of the 19 tanks to rise and destroying decades of biological material.

The organisation Students for Sustainable Development (SSD) is run by KI students who are passionate about environmental and sustainability issues. The group organizes everything from seminars and workshops to clothing exchange days and movie nights.

A new publication in Nature Communications from researchers at Karolinska Institutet solves a long-standing problem by establishing a system that allows site-specific protein degradation within mitochondria, the cellular hubs for energy production and metabolism.