News archive

Hi there, Elin Jakobsson, PhD student at the Division of Occupational therapy! On September 1 you will defend your thesis ”Voices in the wake of eHealth: older adults’ and occupational therapists’ perceptions of using information and communication technology”. What is the main focus of your thesis?

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet recently reported that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could reduce overdiagnoses and thereby improve prostate cancer screening. Now, the same research group has published a study in The Lancet Oncology, which shows that the addition of a novel blood test, the Stockholm3 test, can reduce the number of MRIs performed by a third while further preventing the detection of minor, low-risk tumours.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Columbia University Irving Medical Center have found an unexpected link between spinal locomotor network activity and adult neurogenesis in the adult zebrafish spinal cord. The study has recently been published in Nature Communications.

Haohao Wu is awarded the prize for her thesis "The molecular basis of the development and diversity of proprioceptive neurons: a story of surviving and thriving”.

The discovery that the anaesthetic ketamine can help people with severe depression has raised hopes of finding new treatment options for the disease. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now identified novel mechanistic insights of how the drug exerts its antidepressant effect. The findings have been published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

It is well known that fat cells can influence our sensitivity to insulin. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that there are three different subtypes of mature fat cells in white adipose tissue and that it is only one of these, called AdipoPLIN, that responds to insulin. The findings may be relevant for future treatments of metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

Here you will find some pictures from the get-together for doctoral students within health and health care sciences on October 7, 2021 organized by PUF-V and FiH. The purpose of the day was that the doctoral students and the supervisors would meet.

Gunnar Schulte, professor in receptor pharmacology at FyFa was interviewed by Dr Yamina Berchiche earlier this year in the podcast Dr. GPCR.

Spider silk is one of the strongest materials available and researchers have long tried to develop artificial spider silk, for example, for medical and industrial use. In a study published in Materials Today, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU – Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet) have now developed spider silk that can be produced in larger volumes without strong chemicals.

Patients with vitamin D deficiency who received vitamin D supplements had a reduced need for pain relief and lower levels of fatigue in palliative cancer treatment, a randomized and placebo-controlled study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet shows. The study is published in the scientific journal Cancers.

For a cell to grow and divide, it needs to produce new proteins. This also applies to cancer cells. In a new study published in Science Advances, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated the protein eIF4A3 and its role in the growth of cancer cells. The study shows that by blocking or reducing the production of this protein, other processes arise that cause the growth and cell division of cancer cells to cease and eventually die.

As in previous years, several of Stockholm’s higher education institutions are participating under the joint Academic Pride banner to draw attention to LGBTQI-related issues. Academic Pride 2021 arranges a seminar on breaking binary gender norms with language as well as social events for students. The Pride flag will be hoisted at all participating schools throughout the festival program, including KI’s campuses in Flemingsberg and Solna.

Background

For PhD students it is fundamental to improve their reading skills and gain practice in critiquing and appraising research. One common method used for enhancing skills in interpreting research data is participating in journal clubs. Virtual journal clubs can be a safe space where PhD students can improve their presentation and communication skills, they can expand their professional network and practice the skills of interpreting research data.

Karolinska Institutet has signed a collaborative agreement with the Hungarian National Institute of Oncology, NIO. The planned collaboration will primarily take place within the framework of Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Centre together with Karolinska University Hospital.

Obesity increases the risk of developing cancers of the digestive system and it is the person’s fat mass, rather than size, that is the main obesity-related risk factor for these cancer types, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS Medicine by researchers at the University of Cambridge and Karolinska Institutet.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a detailed molecular atlas of the fetal development of the brain. The study published in the top journal Nature is based on so-called single-cell technology and has been done on mice. In this way, researchers have identified almost 800 different cells that are active during fetal development – many times more than previously known.

COMMENTARY: Karolinska Institutet (KI) takes its historical legacy seriously and has therefore taken several initiatives and implemented several measures, to illuminate some of the dark episodes of our history. We take these to be pressing issues, as discussed in an article in Dagens Nyheter on 18 July (E-DN 17 July). KI's more than 200-year history contains aspects that, from today's point of view, would be considered unethical, unscientific, undemocratic and, in some cases, racist.

Both humans and other animals learn quickly about dangers in their environment by observing the behavior of other individuals. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that both rats and humans can use such social information to reactivate memories about threats that have been previously acquired through their own experiences.

Determining who is the biological father of a child is a sensitive subject, but the answer can be crucial in important issues. In a nationwide study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, researchers from Karolinska Institutet, by using two different models, have been able to show that the proportion of incorrectly established paternities in Sweden is as low as 1.7 percent, a figure that has decreased over time.

The International community must save Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali before it’s too late. Karolinska Institutet backs a call signed by a number of organisations, addressing the European Union, the European state governments, and the United States government to act immediately to secure the release of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali – an internationally recognized scholar of disaster medicine and KI alumni, wrongfully sentenced to death and in dire need of medical care.

With the application of a novel three-dimensional imaging technology, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that one portion of the autonomic nervous system in the liver undergoes severe degeneration in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The study, which is conducted in mice and human liver tissue, shows that the degeneration of nerves is correlated with the severity of liver pathology. The results are being published in the journal Science Advances.

Joanna Zawacka-Pankau, senior researcher at MedH and Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM) receives the Cathrine Everts Prize of 50.000 SEK for her research on drug repurposing for the improved therapy in TP53-mutated AML.

Children and young people whose mothers had a BMI greater than 30 during early pregnancy are at an increased risk of fatty liver disease. This is shown in a register-based study from Karolinska Institutet and Harvard University published in the journal Journal of Hepatology. As obesity rates increase also in women at a child-bearing age, more and more young people are at risk of developing fatty liver disease, the researchers say.

Rapid diagnosis is crucial in bacterial soft tissue infections to reduce the risk of severe injury or amputation. Vague symptoms and a heterogeneous patient group increase the risk of misdiagnosis. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and other research institutions have now, with the help of AI, identified a new and very promising biomarker. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, may have implications for both diagnosis and treatment.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, together with British colleagues, have conducted the largest study to date in search of genetic markers about cluster headache. In the long term, it can hopefully pave the way for more effective treatments. The study is published in the scientific journal Annals of Neurology.

The evolutionary ability to identify sick individuals is crucial to reducing contagion and thereby improving chances of survival. Although most animals have this ability, whether humans have the same behavioural immune system has long been a subject of discussion. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now proven that hunter-gatherer groups can, with great certainty, identify the sick from Western Europe. The study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

On Thursday, 8 July 2021, the European Parliament debated and voted on an awaited resolution to demand that Ahmadreza Djalali – a Swedish-Iranian doctor and researcher sentenced to death – be released from prison in Iran. Passed by a substantial majority of votes, the resolution now calls for the release of Djalali.

In a recently published review article in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, two researchers at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at KI, concludes where the field of research is today regarding causes behind and development of, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and how epigenetic processes can contribute to the development of the syndrome.

Most countries have not introduced nationwide prostate-cancer screening, as current methods result in overdiagnoses and excessive and unnecessary biopsies. A new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, which is published in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicates that screening by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and targeted biopsies could potentially cut overdiagnoses by half. The results are presented today at the European Association of Urology Congress.

In March 2020, thousands of researchers across the globe joined forces to answer the question of why some COVID-19 patients develop a severe, life-threatening disease, while others manage with mild or no symptoms. A comprehensive summary of their findings to date, based on the analyses of nearly 50,000 patients and published in Nature today, reveals 13 genetic regions that are strongly associated with infection or severe COVID-19.

In addition to Joana Pereira at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics, four more people have been appointed as new research group leaders at NVS during the spring. They are Debora Rizzuto, Weili Xu, Grégoria Kalpouzos and Amaia Calderon Larrañaga, all from the Division of Aging Research Center (ARC).

With the development of more effective treatment for childhood cancer, fertility preservation efforts have become routine at many centers. At the same time, there have been questions about the risks of relapse when re-transplanting ovarian tissue. Now researchers at Karolinska Institutet report on a woman who is expecting her second child after being treated for leukaemia as a teenager. This study, published in Haematologica, may be of great importance to many young women and their families.

New results presented by the Schulte lab at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with researchers in Shanghai and Montréal, help us understand how the cell surface receptor FZD7 is activated and provides a platform for drug discovery to inhibit this process for therapeutic purposes.

Professor Per Svenningsson at Karolinska Institutet receives funding for a five-year research project of 38 million SEK from Nordstjernan Holding AB and the Axel Johnson Group. The investment goes to fundamental research on the onset of Parkinson's disease and to clinical studies to improve treatment and slow down the course of the disease.

Adults with ADHD are at higher risk of a wide range of physical conditions, including nervous system, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and metabolic diseases, according to a large register-based study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

This year, The Swedish Brain Foundation will distribute SEK 106 million in research grants. Karolinska Institutet is awarded 42% of these and includes seven researchers at the Department of Neurobiology, Health Sciences and Society (NVS) as recipients.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet publish new findings in the journal Cancer Discovery showing how pharmacological activation of the protein p53 boosts the immune response against tumours. The results can be of significance to the development of new combination therapies that will give more cancer patients access to immunotherapy.

New review article looks at readiness prior to the implementation of genomics-based precision medicine in complex diseases. The extensive work has been led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Lund University and has been carried out together with some 30 researchers throughout Sweden. The results are now being published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, JIM.

On July 1 the president of Karolinska Institutet Ole Peter Ottersen will take over the chair of the Stockholm Trio, a university alliance which aims to create better interaction within research, education and collaborative projects.

The attempts to create artificial spider silk fibers are progressing. Swedish researchers believe that a strong enough thread may exist in a foreseeable future. Artificial silk fiber is made from the same kind of protein that the spiders have in their hind body and could be used for extra durable textiles, but also in for example nerve surgery. Listen to what Anna Rising at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, says in an interview with SVT Nyheter.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and their British colleagues have identified a possible contributory cause of fibromyalgia, a difficult to treat pain condition. In a study on mice and human tissue, the researchers found that fibromyalgia patients’ antibodies played a key part in symptom development. The results, which are published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, pave the way for developing new treatment strategies.

Congratulations to all of you, who share a total of SEK 7,650,000!

On 22 June, the Latvian President, Egils Levits, and delegation paid a visit to Karolinska Institutet. The visit was made in connection with an official two-day visit to Sweden.

Roman Zubarev has been funded within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie action “Innovative Training Networks”. The project aims to train a new generation of scientists in exploiting the concept of allostery in drug design.

Congratulations to the researchers at BioNut who received funding from CIMED for 2022-2024. A total of 4.5 million SEK awarded.

Andrea Carmine Belin, researcher at the Department of Neuroscience, has been nominated and elected to the International Headache Society's Board of Directors for a two-year period (2021-2023), which will also be announced in conjunction with the Members' Annual Meeting on September 9, 2021.

Thanks to many years of translational research, some children with the rare childhood cancer neuroblastoma may now be cured. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers at among others Karolinska Institutet and University of Gothenburg write that so-called ALK inhibitors should be tried to treat children with high-risk neuroblastoma. That is after an analysis showed that children with mutations in the ALK gene have poorer prognosis.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have analysed and described in detail the immune cells residing in the human bile duct. The findings may pave the way for new treatment strategies against disorders of the bile duct, which are often linked to immunological processes. The study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have discovered how platinum-chemotherapy can enhance the treatment resistance of ovarian cancer cells, by progressively changing the cancer cell-intrinsic adhesion signaling and cell-surrounding microenvironment.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a technology for cost-effective surveillance of the global spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. The technique is presented in the scientific journal Nature Communications.