News archive

Svante Pääbo hasn’t even collected his 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine yet. Still, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology is already dreaming of making new ground-breaking discoveries.

Breathing in common workplace dust and fumes may increase the risk of developing severe rheumatoid arthritis, especially in combination with smoking and genetic susceptibility to the disease, suggests a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

When cancer is detected at an early stage, the rates of survival increase drastically, but today only a few cancer types are screened for. An international study led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and affiliated with Karolinska Institutet shows that a new, previously untested method can find multiple types of newly formed cancers at the same time – including cancer types that are difficult to detect with comparable methods. The results are published in the journal PNAS.

The Covid pandemic was the starting point for this year’s Stockholm Life Science Conference - Life Science 2.0 where discussions centred on both the mistakes made and lessons learned from the handling of the pandemic and the rapid development of vaccines.

Seven researchers at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics have been granted project funds from the Swedish Research Council. Together the department receives SEK 43.6 million.

Researchers from the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (Eriksdotter group) in collaboration with the Departments of MEB (Carrero group) and Clintec (Bruchfeld group) at KI have recently had their study published in Kidney International (IF 19). This paper is the first study linking activation of cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways to kidney damage in humans.

New faculty representatives for and members of the Faculty Board, its three committees and of the Faculty Council for the term of office commencing 1 Jan 2023 and ending 31 Dec 2025.

B cells are critical to the proper functioning of the immune system. However, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown that they can sometimes do more harm than good, as their numbers greatly increase after bowel damage, preventing the tissue from healing. The results, which are presented in the journal Immunity, can be of significance to the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

The answer to this question is not just interesting to know. It also offers clues to the mechanisms behind schizophrenia, explains Konstantina Kilteni, researcher at the department of neuroscience.

The Board of Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg's foundation has decided to award Cristiana Cruceanu and Hugo Zeberg the foundations personal prize and a research grant, for a total of SEK 650,000 each. The prize will be awarded at the annual Installation Ceremony at the Karolinska Institutet in October 2023.

Researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Karolinska Institutet are part of a collaborative study that has made progress in the testing of an innovative contraceptive method, a vaginal gel, that preclinical studies have shown prevents sperm from reaching the egg. The results are described in a paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have conducted a pioneering study analysing internet-delivered anonymous cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for people who view images or videos of children being sexually abused. The participants, who were mainly recruited via forums on the encrypted part of the internet called Darknet, reported less use of such material after therapy. The study is published in the journal Internet Interventions.

Volunteer so-called SMS lifesavers in Sweden, who are alerted to cardiac arrests nearby using a mobile app, perform a large part of life-saving efforts before the ambulance, police or emergency services arrive, regardless if they are instructed to collect the nearest defibrillator or not. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Cardiology.

To improve understanding of mental health, today’s symptom-based diagnoses need to be complemented with biological criteria accounting for differences between individuals and the sexes. A major EU-funded research project, coordinated by Uppsala University, will pursue an interdisciplinary path towards better strategies to protect vulnerable individuals from mental illness. Three research teams at Karolinska Institutet participate in the project.

Prostate cancer constitutes an essential public health issue, as it is a major cause of male deaths. Early detection through an organised testing program with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and systematic biopsy is not in place in most countries due to the risk of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of low-risk cancers. Now there are two proposed approaches to tackle this problem; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the serum-based reflex test “Stockholm3”.

The grant is awarded by Vinnova in the European call "ERA PerMed 2022: Personalised Prevention".

Olof Stephansson at the Department of Medicine, Solna, conducts research on the care of women and their infants during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. He is now awarded funds from NordForsk to investigate the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic for mothers and reproductive health in order to produce useful knowledge in the face of similar social crises.

Karolinska Institutet and Cancer Research UK’s innovation engine, Cancer Research Horizons, have announced a 5-year strategic partnership dedicated to accelerating the translation of academic cancer research into improved treatments for patients.

Even as a child, Martin Bergö wanted to be a scientist. And he did. His biggest discovery so far is that vitamins can worsen the prognosis for cancer patients.

Petra Peterson at the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery research group, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "A multidisciplinary long-term evaluation of patients born with unilateral cleft lip and palate treated with different surgical protocols" on December 2, 2022.
Main Supervisor is Agneta Karsten, Dentmed.

Conferment ceremonies, professorial installation ceremonies and degree ceremonies – the academic year is full of such formal occasions. Common to all of them are the student ushers, who help to keep the proceedings running smoothly. It is a prestigious role, say chief usher Philip Wallenius and vice-chief usher Ida Dahlgren, who will soon be graduating themselves.

Eduardo Villablanca, Department of Medicine, Solna has received a FORMAS grant of SEK 3 million. He and his team will study the immunotoxic effects of PFAS in the intestinal mucosal immune responses.

In cannabis trials against pain, people who take placebos report feeling largely the same level of pain relief as those who consume the active cannabinoid substance. Still, these studies receive significant media coverage regardless of the clinical outcome, report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in JAMA Network Open.

The newborn care researchers in the global child health and sustainable development goals team have had a visit from research colleagues at the Phu San Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, November 23-26. The visit included workshops on ongoing and upcoming collaborations and studies including the NeoSpirit project and planning for future Vietnamese PhD candidates as well as visiting hospitals.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type in women globally, but there is a continuous decline in mortality rates. A partial explanation for this may be that effective treatments are being developed for subgroups of breast cancer patients. It is still challenging to optimise treatment plans for every individual.

Michael Dismorr at the research group Thoracic Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, defended his thesis "Epidemiological studies of bioprosthetic aortic valves" on November 18th, 2022.
Main Supervisor: Ulrik Sartipy.

The risk of being infected by parvovirus is elevated in those people who have blood group Rh(D), according to a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with Octapharma.

Three researchers at NVS share the sum.

Four researchers at Karolinska Institutet (KI) are awarded the Silver Medal this year. This medal is awarded to individuals who have made excellent efforts in support of KI’s activities, and these people will be recognised in conjunction with the ceremony for Diligence and Devotion in February 2023.

The four researchers awarded the Silver Medal award are Göran Dahllöf, Lena Borell, Marianne Schultzberg and Rolf Kiessling.

At its meeting of 30 September, the Karolinska Institutet University Board decided that the Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine (MWLC), KI’s research centre in Hong Kong, is to close at the turn of 2023/2024.

Professor Danuta Wasserman, the fouder and current head of department for National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health, was given the honor to give the opening keynote lecture at the 9th World Congress on Women's Mental Health.

Researchers at Karolinska have uncovered how brain circuits encode the start, duration and sudden change of speed of locomotion. The study is published in Neuron.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified the bacteria most commonly found in severe oral infections. Few such studies have been done before, and the team now hopes that the study can provide deeper insight into the association between oral bacteria and other diseases. The study is published in Microbiology Spectrum.

Karolinska Institutet's programme of study is expanding. From autumn 2023, KI will offer a new Master's Programme in Biomedical Laboratory Science. The programme is given in Swedish and aimed at working professionals.

Zhao Cheng at the Surgical Care Science research group, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Outcomes of surgery for oesophageal cancer with focus on fatigue" on November 29, 2022.
Main Supervisor is Pernilla Lagergren.

On November 9, 2022, the Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet decided on the allocation of funding for positions as Assistant Professor, Senior Research Specialist/Principal Researcher and Consolidator grants for researchers already employed by KI. One researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition received funding as Senior Research Specialist.

By measuring immune cells in the cerebrospinal fluid when diagnosing ALS, it is possible to predict how fast the disease may progress according to a study from Karolinska Institutet published in Nature Communications.

We congratulate David Marlevi at the Clinical Physiology Research Group, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, who is one of three researchers at Karolinska Institutet to be awarded the European Research Council's prestigious ERC Starting Grant 2022.

The Swedish Research Council (VR) awards seven researchers at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology (FyFa) grants for a total amount of SEK 42,800,000.

In this year's announcement of project grants from the Swedish Cancer Society, OnkPat received a total of 75 million SEK. 22 researchers were granted funding.

The Committee for Research has decided on the allocation of the funding for nine Consolidator grants for researchers already employed by KI.

David Marlevi, Enric Llorens and Onur Dagliyan have been awarded the 2022 ERC Starting Grant. Their projects concern multiscale imaging for cardiovascular diseases, self-repairing injured tissues in mammals and new molecular technology for cellular circuits.

On 11 November, it was time once again for 99 new PhDs of medical science to receive their hats and diplomas at KI’s conferment ceremony. The evening also paid tribute to 17 jubilee doctors who graduated at KI 50 years ago.

Erica Zeglio, Hongji Yan, Onur Parlak and Anna Herland, researchers at the research center AIMES, Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences at Karolinska Institutet, are all awarded grants from The Swedish Research Council 2022.

The Swedish Research Council has awarded Georgios Belibasakis a grant on 2,4 MSEK from 2023 to 2025.

Johannes Asplund at the research group Upper GI Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Towards an improved survival in gastric cancer" on November 25th, 2022.
Main Supervisor is Jesper Lagergren.

In the latest calls from the Swedish Research Council, researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition were awarded grants for the years 2023-2026.

We wish to congratulate the grantees!

Congratulations to all the researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition (BioNut) who received funding from Cancerfonden for the years 2023-2025.

Associate Professor Ning Xu Landén, Department of Medicine Solna, has been granted DKK 4.2 million for research on wound healing.

Nine researchers from the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) are awarded a total of SEK 29 100 000 from The Swedish cancer society - Cancerfonden. Congratulations to: