News archive

Esophageal cancer is the seventh most common cancer world-wide and a lethal malignancy causing a considerably high number of deaths. There is currently no promising method for prevention, early detection, or screening of esophageal cancer so most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which is associated with a poor prognosis.

Prof. Kevin Eva is awarded the 2022 Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education (KIPRIME). Prof. Eva is Associate Director and Senior Scientist in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, and Professor and Director of Educational Research and Scholarship in the Department of Medicine, at the University of British Columbia. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Medical Education.

Bacterial meningitis is a life-threatening infectious disease of the brain that leaves many survivors with long-lasting neurological impairments. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show in a study on rats that the brain’s tool for waste clearance, the glymphatic system, malfunctions during bacterial meningitis, causing a buildup of toxic garbage that damages brain cells. The findings are published in the journal mBio.

On 24 August 1922, the pioneering photographer and KI community member Lennart Nilsson (1922-2017) was born. Just in time for his 100th birthday, the retrospective exhibition of his photographic work "Med blick för det stora i det lilla – Lennart Nilsson 100 år" opened at Sergelgatans Konsthall in Stockholm, organised by Jan Broman, founder of Fotografiska Museet, Per Lydmar and Vasakronan.

Many participated in KI:s introduction week for new students, which was the first one to take place in person since COVID-19. Meet some of KI:s new students and read about why they chose to study at KI, and what they though about the introduction to their new University so far.

The national MEG lab at Karolinska Institutet is already the only lab in Sweden with equipment to measure neuronal brain activity in real time across the entire brain. Now, a new sensor-system upgrade to its technical equipment will make the lab an international leader in the field.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) has been assigned the task of hosting the national node for data-driven life science in precision medicine and diagnostics. By developing and providing support and optimal conditions, the aim is to drive research in this area forwards regionally, nationally and internationally.

New study from researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in Science Advances show that inactivation of a protein complex that controls gene repression leads to loss of neuronal identity of dopamine-producing cells and to motor symptoms typical of Parkinson's disease.

A new immunological treatment against hepatitis B and D viruses, both of which can cause liver cancer, shows promising results in animal models. Results from the treatment, which is being developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, have been published in the journal Gut.

Women with a breast cancer diagnosis undergoing procedures for fertility preservation are not at increased risk of recurrence of the disease or disease-specific mortality. This has been shown in a study by Karolinska Institutet that followed the participants for five years on average. The results, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, could in the future provide safety and new hope to women who want to preserve their fertility after cancer treatment with chemotherapy.

The remains of a famous Sami woman have been identified amongst Karolinska Institutet’s anatomical collections. Representatives from the medical history and heritage department visited Malå on friday the 19:th of August to present the findings and initiate a repatriation process.

This year, the Swedish Brain Foundation (Hjärnfonden) is awarding SEK 105.3 million in research grants spread over 99 projects. Karolinska Institutet receives 40 of these, eight of which go to NVS.

KI researchers Niklas Mejhert and Zhichao Zhou are among the 4 European grantees receiving 5 million DKK each for 5 years from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD)/Novo Nordisk Future Leaders Award program in 2022.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are developing a coronavirus vaccine designed to be less sensitive to mutations and equipped for future strains. The vaccine showed promising results in mice in a newly published study in EMBO Molecular Medicine, and the researchers now hope to be able to take it to safety studies on humans.

Use of hazardous preservatives in chemical products has increased dramatically in the years 1995–2018. Several of these are potent skin sensitizers and may cause lifelong allergy that affects work ability and quality of life. A new study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) draws attention to the need for action for protection of human health and the environment.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet present new findings about alcohol consumption reduced by training. The three related papers, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, report findings from the randomized controlled trial, FitForChange.

A new study published in Cell Chemical Biology describes an alternative approach to treat diabetes by identifying drugs directly increasing the number of incretin-expressing cells. The work results from researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Children who suffer a relapse of the aggressive cancer known as neuroblastoma have small chances of survival. However, a group including researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now shown that DHODH blockers, which are well-tolerated in humans, can cure neuroblastoma in mice if administered in combination with chemotherapy. The study, published in the journal JCI Insight, paves the way for clinical trials of this combination therapy.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Bristol have investigated the relationship between mode of delivery and sexual well-being several years after childbirth. The study, published in the journal BJOG, showed no difference in sexual frequency or sexual satisfaction in women who were delivered vaginally or by caesarean section.

We are delighted to announce that Olle Ljungqvist has been awarded the prestigious international ISS/SIC Prize 2022 from the Société Internationale de Chirurgie.

Svenska Läkaresällskapet (The Swedish Medical Society, SLS) has decided to award Professor Jonas F Ludvigsson at Karolinska Institutet with the society's prestigious Jubilee Award. The prize winner is awarded SEK 150,000 and the SLS century medal in silver.

The remains of a famous Sami woman have been identified amongst Karolinska Institutet’s anatomical collections. Representatives from the medical history and heritage department visited Malå on friday the 19:th of August to present the findings and initiate a repatriation process.

The Alzheimer's Association® will present seven awards at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2022, recognizing researchers for their varied expertise, noteworthy achievements and innovative contributions to the field of Alzheimer's and dementia science. Agneta Nordberg, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, received one of them.

In a new analysis, Karolinska Institutet is ranked number eight in a list of organizations with the most published articles on COVID-19 and the immune response. KI also stands out as one of the universities that has had the most international collaborations in the field. The analysis was conducted by Chinese researchers without a connection to KI and is published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.

Congratulations to the researchers at NVS who received funding from CIMED for 2023–2025

An ongoing effort to create detailed molecular atlases of individual cells in different tissues aims to better understand how diseases develop. Now, a team of researchers from Yale and Karolinska Institutet, has developed a technology that brings that goal one step closer. The findings were published in Nature.

In a new thesis from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Chen Wang used nationwide Swedish register data to assess the long-term health of children conceived with assisted reproductive techniques (ART) and attempted to develop prediction models of pregnancy complications among women undergoing ART.

Eivind Gottlieb at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery is awarded the prize for his thesis "Improved surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer"

New research from Yihai Cao research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cellbiology, MTC, shows that the so-called brown fat in the human body seems to be able to prevent cancer tumors from growing. The result is published by Nature and has been widely disseminated in the media lately.

For the second time, on June 7-8, 2022, the Vascular Surgery Research Group organized this translational meeting for vascular science, this time with a focus on Critical Lower Limb Ischemia (CLTI).

Epigenetic clocks based on DNA methylation data are widely used aging biomarkers useful to assess biological age in population-based cohorts. However, their utility has been limited by technical noise. In this paper, we present a method that produces high-reliability clocks for applications such as longitudinal studies and intervention trials.

Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet are organizing the DevRes conference which aims to promote networking and collaboration between researchers, public agencies, policy makers, organisations and practitioners, in order to find solutions for poverty and develop strategies for the future of sustainable development.

KI is ranked 41 in the 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai ranking. This means that Karolinska Institutet (KI) retains its position as one of the world's 50 highest-ranked universities, where the ranking has varied between positions 38 and 45 over the past five years (2021: position 42). KI is also one of Europe's and the EU's highest-ranked universities. ARWU is based, among other things, on publication- and citation data and scientific awards.

Researchers at KI and SLU have discovered that spider silk proteins can be fused to biologically active proteins and be converted into a gel at body temperature. One of the goals is to develop an injectable protein solution that forms a gel inside the body, which could be used in tissue engineering and for drug release, but also make gels that can streamline chemical processes where enzymes are used. The study is published in Nature Communications.

Annachiara Malin Igra researches the health effects of early-life metal exposure in children in Bangladesh. Her research provides important evidence that growth, bone health and pubertal development of children can be negatively affected by cadmium from food at exposure levels relevant for millions of children around the world. Now she wants to see a new risk assessment for metal exposure where child health is included.

On Aug. 11, the election committee presented two final candidates in the hunt for a new president of Karolinska Institutet. Annika Östman Wernerson at KI and Eva Tiensuu Janson at Uppsala University were selected among some 100 potential candidates. University board chairperson Göran Stiernstedt in the election committee and Professor Erika Franzén in the search committee comment on the recruitment process.

Karolinska Institutet’s Election Committee has selected KI’s Professor Annika Östman Wernerson and Uppsala University’s Eva Tiensuu Janson as the two final candidates for the position of university president.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet present new insights into the role of small molecules, microRNAs, in skin wound healing. The study, published in the journal eLife, highlights possible future approaches for treating venous ulcers, a common type of chronic non-healing wounds.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, among others, have studied the benefit of adding an established drug as a novel targeted therapy in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The results suggest that the drug hydroxyurea can increase treatment efficacy at a relatively low cost. The results, which were published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, could have significant implications for cancer treatment, including in low-income countries.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet present the results of a refined clinical COVID-19 test, which has been used to track the spread of the Omicron variant in real time in the Swedish population. The study, published in the journal Med, provides new insights into the dominance transition of Omicron sublineages that occurred consistently across the world.

To track and analyze caesarean section trends and thus improve maternity care, the Robson classification is used worldwide. A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows differences between Sweden and Canada, and that the classification system can be further developed to take into account more important variables. The study, published in PLOS Medicine, may contribute to improved and more equal maternity care in the future.

During Pride Week in Stockholm in early August, Karolinska Institutet raised the rainbow flag over campus and participated in the parade together with several other universities under the Academic Pride flag.

Hearing the word ‘war injury’, one might think of bullet wounds, torn off limbs or burns from explosions. And whilst injuries such as these certainly feature in the palette of suffering that war brings, the reality is more complex, and to some extent perhaps also less cinematic.

Using proteomics and other advanced tools of molecular biology, an international team of researchers led by a group from Karolinska Institutet have found a novel way to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease by blood analysis, with a potential to uncover the underlying cause of the disease and prevent its development.

In a recently published review article in Cell, researchers Jon Lundberg and Eddie Weitzberg at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet summarize research in nitric oxide (NO) with a focus on what is happening right now.

Turning down the thermostat seems to make it harder for cancer cells to grow, according to a study in mice by researchers at Karolinska Institutet. The study, published in the journal Nature, found that chilly temperatures activate heat-producing brown fat that consumes the sugars the tumors need to thrive. Similar metabolic mechanisms were found in a cancer patient exposed to a lowered room temperature.

The students' association IFMSA runs the Vår hälsa brinner (Our health is on fire) campaign to raise awareness and educate about the health impacts of climate change. Students see a need to work concretely on the issue, not least during their medical training. They have made an alphabet series illustrating the impact of climate change on public health and hold educational workshops. During Politician's Week in Almedalen, they held a workshop and distributed posters with the alphabet.

To investigate the long-term benefit of hormone-lowering treatment, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have done a 20-year follow-up of premenopausal women with breast cancer. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicates that the treatment provides protection even after a longer period of time and that different patients seem to benefit from different hormonal treatments.

Both children with type 1 diabetes and their closest family members are at increased risk of mental health problems compared with those without the disease, according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Diabetes Care. The findings underscore the need for psychological consulting for both children and their families in diabetes care.

Women with reduced kidney function received a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease to a less extent than men in the same situation. Women were also less likely to have their kidney function monitored, to visit a nephrologist and to use recommended treatments for chronic kidney disease. This according to a new study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.