News archive

MedTechLabs has granted SEK 35 million for two new medical technology research programmes. One will develop a new method for monitoring foetal oxygenation during labour. The other will develop a new method for early diagnosis of brain diseases using MR-Elastography.

The venue in Biomedicum was quickly filled with interested KI employees when the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health and the Centre for Health Crises welcomed them to the first policy lab on 26 October. The aim was to discuss and learn more together about how research can influence politics and society. The focus this time was on how the national Swedish political system is structured when it comes to health care issues and what ways there are to reach in with input from universities.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are awarded close to SEK 93 million in Forte's annual open call for proposals. The projects, which will run until 2027, span all of Forte's areas - health, working life and welfare. This year, a total of 20 projects at KI have been granted funding.

People who have a higher biological age than their actual chronological age have a significantly increased risk of stroke and dementia, especially vascular dementia. These are the results of a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Marta Butrym from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), is defending her thesis "Novel vaccines and antiviral treatments for enterovirus induced infections and disease" on November 10 2023. Main supervisor is Malin Flodström Tullberg (MedH).

Frailty is an age-related state of physiological decline and is a strong predictor of disability and mortality. Researchers are trying to improve our understanding of the biology of frailty and to find ways of identifying frail older adults with the aim to improve individualized management of frailty.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden have uncovered the molecular logic underpinning the assembly of spinal circuits that control the speed of locomotion in adult zebrafish. The study has recently been published in Nature Neuroscience.

Women who receive a false positive mammography result are more likely to develop breast cancer over the subsequent 20 years, report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in JAMA Oncology. The risk is highest for women aged between 60 and 75 and who have low breast density.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest call, SEK 69 000 000 was awarded to 12 researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) for the years 2023-2028.

On 1 November 2023, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Health Minister Acko Ankarberg Johansson, visited Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) to learn about the work on precision medicine for improved cancer care. Some of the topics discussed included broad gene sequencing as part of personalised healthcare, as well as the treatment and accessibility of data.

Giulia Gaudenzi and Kelly Elimian are currently running a research project focused on assessing the diagnostic accuracy of rapid diagnostic test kits for detecting cholera in environmental water in comparison to standard diagnostic methods, such as culture and PCR, in Nigeria. They have conducted trainings in Nigeria on the use of these test kits.

A new publication in Science Advances from researchers at Karolinska Institutet shows how to use a specific cancer trait to improve treatment of pancreatic tumors.

We congratulate Professor Anna Martling, Research Group for Colorectal Surgery, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, chief physician Tema Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital who has been named an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

An early phase in the process of developing Alzheimer’s disease is a metabolic increase in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in Molecular Psychiatry. The discovery opens up for new potential methods of early intervention.

Twelve international master students from ten countries received Karolinska Institutet's Global Scholarship during a ceremony in Aula Medica.

Staffan Josephsson, Division of Occupational Therapy, and Marie Kierkegaard, Division of Physiotherapy, receives nearly five million SEK each as project grant from Forte.

In a recent study published in Nature Communication, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology have identified a new molecule in cells that is necessary for Ebola and Marburg viruses to infect and spread in the body.

A researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, has received SEK 4.97 million in research grants from FORTE for a project on “A mHealth intervention to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours from the start of life: The Health4Life trial”.

The Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) has together with the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Medicine (CAMM) developed an accessible infrastructure to link environmental and occupational exposure with individual or population health for researchers at and outside Karolinska Institutet.

The National center for suicide research and prevention (NASP) has launched a fourth Swedish edition of "Preventing Suicide: A resource for media professionals." The resource is a translated and adapted version of the original edition from the World Health Organization (WHO) and addresses the effects of suicide reporting in the media and how professionals can report on suicide in a balanced and responsible manner.

A new thesis from Karolinska Institutet advocates end-of-life care that prioritizes the highest possible quality of life, avoids unnecessary or preventable risks and respects patient wishes.

Meet Anna Smed Sörensen, research group leader at the Division of Immunology and Allergy, Department of Medicine, Solna.

Meet Johan Askling, research group leader at the Division of Clinical Epidemiology (KEP), Department of medicine, Solna.

A collaborative study involving researchers from Karolinska Institutet has charted the prevalence of severe physical symptom burden amongst Scandinavians for up to two years after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most affected were people who had a severe COVID-19 infection, while the researchers found no elevated prevalence of long COVID in those who had never been bedridden. The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

The EPIC project (Eukaryotic Post-TranscrIptional Code) has been awarded a ERC Synergy Grant of EUR 10 million to be shared by Vicente Pelechano, Karolinska Institutet, and his two partners Kevin Verstrepen, VIB-KU Leuven, Belgium, and Julien Gagneur, Technical University of Munich, Germany.

The project CartoHostBug (Funtional cartography of intestinal host-microbiome interactions) has been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant of EUR 10 million, which is shared between four researchers, among them Eduardo Villablanca, senior researcher at Karolinska Institutet. The aim of the project is to map how disturbances in the gut microbiome can lead to inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.

The project D2Smell (Digitising Smell: From Natural Statistics of Olfactory Perceptual Space to Digital Transmission of Odors) has been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant of EUR 11.8 million, which is shared between three researchers: Johan Lundström, Karolinska Institutet, Noam Sobel, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and Jonathan Williams, Max Planck Society, Germany. The interdisciplinary collaboration aims to digitally transfer scents to recreate them in another location.

The Aging Research Center (ARC) is an interdisciplinary research centre established in 2000 by Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, and a division of the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at KI. ARC is now launching a new website which can be found at ki.se.

Issues reporting to KI's landlord Akademiska hus has previously been done via their website or via their My Campus app. From November 1, you can now also call in your fault report.

Times Higher Education in the UK has published its World University Rankings by Subject 2024, based on both hard data and reputation surveys. KI has improved its position in "Clinical and Health" both in Europe and globally.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, among others, have developed a prognostic model that identifies the children most at risk of severe RSV infection. The study, published in Lancet Digital Health, can show which children will benefit most from new methods to prevent a serious infection.

Karolinska Institutet organizes every fall an Installation Ceremony where new professors at KI are presented and academic prizes are awarded. Leader for the research group Global Child Health and the Sustainable Development Goals Tobias Alfvén was one of the 17 new professors that were ceremoniously installed at KI on 12 October.

KI researcher Carl Sellgren has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlströms Minnesfonds pris 2023 (Bjarne Ahlström Memorial Fund Prize 2023) for his research in clinical neurology and how the loss of synapses (contacts between cells) in the brain could be a possible cause of schizophrenia.

On a sunny afternoon in October, several hundred people gathered in the Aula Medica at Karolinska Institutet in Solna. Study participants in the extensive SNAC-K study had been invited by the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center foundation and Karolinska Institutet (KI) to hear about the latest research findings from the study.

In recent years, there have been rapid advancements in the field of computational pathology, which refers to the application of computational methods in pathology workflows. Traditional pathology involves the study of diseases by examining tissues, organs, and bodily fluids. In computational pathology, digital pathology images are analyzed using computer algorithms to extract meaningful information.

Some users and applicants experience technical issues when logging in to or working in KIWAS (the administrative tool or the course catalogue).

If you are using Google Chrome and your the home page does not load since the latest upgrade, you will need to clear the cache in your browser.

Max Gordon, Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, and Chief Physician at Danderyd Hospital, is awarded for his research on artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The Swedish AI of the Year award (Årets AI svensk) is presented to a person who has contributed to the development and visibility of Swedish AI.

Maria Creignou from the Hematology Unit (HERM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending her thesis: "Improving prognostication for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes" on 27 October 2023. Main supervisor is Professor Eva Hellström Lindberg (MedH).

Taking place in Stockholm on 11-12th October the ENBEL transdisciplinary conference brought together researchers, policy makers, NGOs and private sector representatives to present and discuss climate change effects on health, as well as adaptation, societal consequences, and opportunities for climate resilient development. One of the main objects of the EU-funded project is to enhance collaboration between health, environmental and climate research.

Hi Lisa Herulf Scholander, doctoral student at the Division of Occupational Therapy. On November 10 you will defend your thesis ”Narrative relations: resources for meaning-making and person-centred practices in geriatric care”. What is the main focus of the thesis?

Professor Lisa Juntti-Berggren at Karolinska Institutet is awarded the Swedish Society of Medicine's Jubilee Prize 2023 for her studies on Apolipoprotein CIII and diabetes mellitus. The awardee is rewarded with SEK 150,000 and the SLS centenary medal in silver.

A training programme hosted by KI and partners in Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia and Uganda has led to concrete changes at policy level and on the ground. “It is having a huge impact”, says Dr. Miriam C.A. Wagoro, Associate Professor at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and part of the coordinating committee.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a microscale device for implantation in the eye, which presents new opportunities for cell-based treatment of diabetes and other diseases. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

We congratulate Virginia Stone, who has been awarded the 2023 Johnny Ludvigsson Prize for Younger Childhood Diabetes Researchers in Sweden.

A new thesis from Karolinska Institutet focuses on cancer prevention by investigating the factors and outcomes associated with false-positive mammography recalls, a fairly common event where women are called back for additional tests after an initial screening, but no cancer is detected during the follow-up. A second aim of the thesis was to further our understanding of the association between breast cancer risk factors in women and cancer risk among their relatives, particularly sisters.

On Thursday, October 19, starting after 7 p.m., a major upgrade will be done on ki.se. The upgrade means that the website will be closed for maintenance for at least 2 hours. The shutdown affects ki.se, staff.ki.se, education.ki.se and news.ki.se.

KI and Karolinska University Hospital have signed a memorandum of understanding with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe’s largest and most eminent university hospitals and medical universities. The signing of the MoU intensifies cooperation between the organisations.

First the hot dogs – then the diplomas, speeches, fanfares and applause. Tradition prevailed on 12 October as 17 new professors were ceremoniously installed at KI.

The survival rate in lung cancer has increased considerably, albeit from low levels. Oncologist Simon Ekman wants to contribute to better treatments in the future by studying two problems in lung cancer: drug resistance and brain metastases.