News archive

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:

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have reported new insights on how copper ions inhibit the aggregation of the amyloid-β peptide implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. The study published in JACS Au presents molecular structures of this complex, which provide a general understanding of the impact metal ions have.

Two researchers from the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC) receive grants from The Swedish Cancer Society. Congratulations to:

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown that patients with acute COVID-19 infection have increased levels of the cytokine IL-26 in their blood. Moreover, high IL-26 levels correlate with an exaggerated inflammatory response that signifies severe cases of the disease. The findings, which are presented in Frontiers in Immunology, indicate that IL-26 is a potential biomarker for severe COVID-19.  

The ADHD medication lisdexamfetamine was associated with the lowest risk of hospitalisation and death in people with amphetamine addiction, when medications generally used among persons with substance use disorders were compared. This is shown in a large registry-based study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland and Niuvanniemi Hospital, published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Earlier this year, the Committee for Research established KI Research Incubator (KIRI) for junior researchers to encourage innovative interdisciplinary collaborations. This summer the KIRI-Fellows was invited to apply for funding for joint research projects. Three KIRI Fellows from the Department of Medicine Solna (MedS) have now, together with colleagues from other departments, received funding for interdisciplinary postdoc projects.

We asked three managers at KI Biobank about the main lessons they take away from last year.

Vice President Anders Gustafsson shares his thoughts on leadership and working methods based on lessons learned from the pandemic.

Eleven Non-European Master’s students received Karolinska Institutet’s Global Masters scholarship at an annual ceremony in Aula Medica.

The world's biggest community for tropical medicine and global health, the American Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH), had its annual meeting between the 30th of October and November 3rd in Seattle, USA. Global Child Health and SDG research team members Mattias Schedwin and Kevin Baker that participated and were selected to present their research, share their experiences and thoughts from the conference.

The StratNeuro Bridging Grant at the consolidator level is a funding initiative where StratNeuro awards up to two consolidator level grants to support outstanding researchers in the field of neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet.

In the Swedish Cancer Society's latest call, research grants were awarded to seven researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery. The grant refers to the period 2023-2025. Congratulations to:

An article in "Dagens Nyheter" (DN), on November 9, 2022, addresses why more women than men suffer from mental illness, such as depression and anxiety. It brings up various circumstances that may be important for why this is so, such as hormones, environment, expectations, as well as the tendency to seek help for mental health problems. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet participated as experts regarding these various factors.

The widely used gene scissor (CRISPR/Cas) can modify the genetic content in cells to study the molecular roles of genes and has gained great clinical relevance in gene therapy to treat genetic diseases. A new study performed by Claudia Kutter’s research group at the Department of Microbiology, Cell, and Tumor Biology at Karolinska Institutet, found that the gene scissor leads to unexpected genomic changes.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest call, SEK 91 558 000 was awarded to 15 researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) for the years 2022–2027. Congratulations to:

Harmful use of, for example, alcohol and drugs in working life can lead to fatigue, increased sick leave and reduced productivity. Eight research projects are now being awarded a total of SEK 30 million by Afa Försäkring in a research programme aimed at reducing sick leave due to the harmful use of alcohol and/or drugs. Four of the researchers are from Karolinska Institutet (KI).

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and at Yale University in USA have uncovered how stem cells behave in real-time while adapting their gene expression for differentiation. The study is published in the scientific journal Nature Cell Biology.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped how children are exposed to outdoor advertisement for food in order to better understand their food environment. The results are presented in a report produced by UNICEF Sweden and the Heart Lung Foundation, showing that advertising is dominated by ultra-processed foods. Unhealthy eating habits are important causes of poor health in Sweden and the current report shows that it is not just a public health issue, but also a children's right issue.

The Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet has decided on recipients from the Jonas Söderquist scholarship foundation for basic research in virology and immunology 2022. Quirin Hammer at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) and Daniel Sheward at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor- and Cell Biology (MTC)) are awarded.

Atrial fibrillation is the greatest risk factor for stroke. Screening to detect atrial fibrillation in older people would not only increase the chance of preventing stroke, it would also save money for the healthcare system and society, according to a study conducted at Linköping University and Karolinska Institutet, published in the European Heart Journal.

Ingrid Ekström, postdoctoral researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, has received project support for research in the humanities and social sciences from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

At a ceremony on October 12, Professor Francesco Cosentino was awarded the honorary title Doctor Honoris Causa at the Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest calls, SEK 37.7 million was awarded to 9 researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, MMK, for the period 2023–2027.

In a recently published paper in Nature Communications, Magda Bienkos research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at KI, present the method called FRET-FISH. The method combines fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) with DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to probe chromatin compaction at select loci in single cells.

Nine NVS researchers receive funding in the latest announcement in medicine and health from the Swedish Research Council.

Representatives from centres within Stockholm trio met at KI for a breakfast meeting and a chance to engage in conversations about activities and collaborations within the topic of climate and health. The collaboration group on climate and health creates spaces and opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation in this wide and complex field.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest calls, SEK 625,904,933 was awarded to 143 KI researchers. In total, the Swedish Research Council grants just over SEK 1.2 billion for the years 2022–2027.

This year's Special Award goes to Torkel Klingberg, who receives SEK 50,000. The prize aims to celebrate the educational writers behind teaching materials and course literature, and to highlight the important role they play when it comes to education in Sweden.

Hi there, Jie Guo, PhD student at the Division of Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "Unraveling the relationship between body mass index and cardiometabolic disease, dementia, and survival in old age" on 10 November 2022. What is the main focus?

Cells that have permanently stopped multiplying, so-called senescent cells, could play an important role in the fight against cancer, according to a new study in mice by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and IRB Barcelona. The study, published in the journal Cancer Discovery, found that vaccination with senescent cancer cells significantly reduced the formation of melanoma and pancreatic cancer tumors in mice.

Schizophrenia patients have fewer connections between nerve cells. This is believed to be caused by genetic risk variants leading to an excessive elimination of nerve cell connections by the immune cells of the brain. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now report in Nature Communications that the levels of protein from the relevant risk gene are elevated in first-episode patients and that inflammation further increases the expression of the risk gene. 

Hi Martina Bendt, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy. On November 18 you will defend your thesis "Adults living with spina bifida – From health and living conditions to motor-cognitive performance", what's the main focus of the thesis?

An observational study at Karolinska Institutet shows that babies suffering oxygen-deficiency complications at birth are almost twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease during childhood and early adulthood as those without such complications. Still, the absolute risk of cardiovascular disease is very low in young age. The findings are published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

From course-level teaching to strategic educational work. Ewa Ehrenborg, professor of molecular cardiovascular medicine at The Department of Medicine, Solna (MedS) began teaching even before she graduated from the medical programme. Next year, she will take over as Academic Vice President of Higher Education at Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Staffan Strömblad at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, has received a grant from World Wide Cancer Research for a project on: "How may mechanotransduction prevent cancer?".

On the 1st of September Mattias Öberg began working 20% at the Centre for Health Crises. His role is to develop the centre’s work with chemical and toxicological health crises. This will be done through, among other things, monitoring, establishing networks, identifying educational and research gaps, as well as identifying how the centre best contributes to the field.

Märit Halmin starts her new role as expert coordinator in the field of ’critical care with limited resources’ at the Centre for Health Crises on the 7th of November. Her role will be to coordinate and develop the centre’s operations within the field.

Petter Ljungman, cardiologist, and Associate Professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine is the new expert coordinator at the Centre for Health Crises in the field of extreme weather, climate, and health effects. Thereby the centre continues to expand its expertise in various health crises subject areas.

Georgios Sotiriou, principal researcher at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, and his colleagues have developed a durable coating for medical devices which is activated by light, providing on-demand disinfection. The findings are presented in a publication in Chemical Engineering Journal.

Sylvain Peuget, assistant professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet and his team has received 250,000 USD from the Swiss Bridge Foundation. The grant is aimed for continued research to investigate what role that certain bacteria in our intestinal flora play in the development and progression of colorectal cancer.

The LEO fundation has awarded Professor Rikard Holmdahl DKK 3.6 million for research on psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis.

Christer Halldin, Professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, and his team have been awarded a grant of approximately 860,000 US dollars for a project up to three years, from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF).

Professor Fredrik Ullén has been awarded the KI Culture Prize 2022. The prize was awarded during KI's Culture Day on 19 October.