News archive

Recently, the 27th Annual Research Meeting was held within the collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Mayo Clinic.

Two students at Karolinska Institutet (KI) recently won first prize in The Global Undergraduate Awards 2021, an award in which some of the world's foremost students participate.

Routines for support and services as MEB have changed a little after the restrictions were lifted and we now have a hybrid workplace at KI.

COVID-19 disease severity seems to be affected by the characteristics of white blood cells called granulocytes, which are part of the innate immune system. Combined measurements of granulocytes and well-known biomarkers in the blood can predict the severity of the disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet. The results are published in the journal PNAS and may eventually contribute to more tailored treatments for COVID-19 patients.

It is a question of presenting their research to the public in four minutes, not a very simple task. At this year's digital edition of the Research Grand Prix, two doctoral students from Karolinska Institutet will be participating to do just that.

Jill Ziesmer, PhD student is interviewed in Karolinska institutets podcast Medicinvetarna no 77. The podcast is available on Spotify and podcasts.nu, among others.

Hi there Stefan Fors, researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet. Along with two other researchers from KI, you have shown that there are inequalities in life expectancy among older people in Sweden and that these differences have increased during the period 2006–2015. Could you tell us a little more?

A recent study published in Clinical Nutrition shows that underweight and malnutrition are risk factors for in-hospital mortality in geriatric COVID-19 patients. The study was performed at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with Theme Inflammation & Aging at Karolinska University Hospital and geriatric clinics in the Stockholm Region.

Critical illness results in millions of deaths globally every year, many of which could be avoided with basic, life-saving care. Now, a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet outlines a baseline bundle of care interventions that global experts agree should be available for all critically ill patients. The study, published in the journal BMJ Global Health, provides a blueprint for hospitals on how to reduce preventable deaths, including from COVID-19.

The Department of Global Public Health is involved in several courses of the new 6-year medical programme that began autumn 2021 and Knut Lönnroth is one of the professors who have been teaching during the first weeks of the autumn semester.

Poverty and violence were already endemic even before an earthquake hit Haiti in mid-August. Thousands of people now live in informal camp sites in the capital Port-au-Prince. KI doctoral student and nurse Martina Gustavsson went there to work with Doctors Without Borders’ emergency response team.

On Thursday 16 September the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH) was inaugurated. It's a digital competence center that has been established together with Makerere University in Uganda. The purpose of the center is to promote sustainable health and contribute to Agenda 2030 with the help of a long-term partnership.

Traumatic experiences such as assault or a road accident can give rise to nightmares, flashbacks and other mental reactions, and accessible therapy is needed to prevent exacerbation of the problems. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now completed what could be the largest evaluation to date of internet-delivered trauma-focused CBT (iCBT-T) for people who have recently experienced trauma. The study, which is published in Psychological Medicine, shows promising results.

Hi Karin Björklund, PhD student at the Division on Family Medicine and Primary Care. On October 15 you will defend your thesis ‘Students’ workplace learning in primary health care: learning from patients’, what’s the main focus of the thesis?

Postural hypotension, a drastic drop in blood pressure when standing up, is linked to an increased risk of dementia and accelerated progression from cognitive impairment to dementia, even in the absence of symptoms, for instance when feeling dizzy or faint. In a study published in the journal Hypertension, researchers from Karolinska Institutet show that postural hypotension could anticipate worse cognition in old age.

Karolinska Institutet has the ambition to establish a central back-office to support researchers in their partnering with industry. To realize this ambition, the External Engagement Office will be launching a one-year project designed to create the best possible foundation for this future support function.

Birth by caesarean section is weakly associated with a lower general cognitive ability in young adult males. However, the magnitude of this association is not clinically relevant. This is according to a study at Karolinska Institutet, published in the Evidence-Based Mental Health. The lower general cognitive ability also seems to be largely explained by familial factors shared between siblings instead of mode of delivery, the study found.

It is now possible for students and staff at Karolinska Institutet (KI) to visit the Karolinska University Hospital's vaccination clinics in Solna and Flemingsberg to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Young people are at risk of falling seriously unwell with tuberculosis and spreading the disease. Therefore, researchers at Karolinska Institutet, among others, have mapped key factors that affect the treatment outcomes in 10- to 24-year-olds with tuberculosis in Brazil, where the disease is increasing. To deal with the global tuberculosis epidemic, researchers say that greater focus is needed on this age group in tuberculosis programs. The study is published in The Lancet Global Health.

Our bodies can fine-tune the immune response to an infection and make it proportional to the threat at hand. New research from Karolinska Institutet describes how B lymphocytes, the immune cells that make antibodies, choose between different cell fates to balance the magnitude of the acute immune response and the memory response that protects against future threats. The study, published in Immunity, may contribute to the optimisation of vaccines to fight viruses or other pathogens.

Have you noticed that more student-related content has appeared on Karolinska Institutet's official Instagram lately? KI has recruited students from the national programs to share their experience on the account @Karolinskainstitutet.

Academics from all 18 higher education institutions in Stockholm have been invited to discuss future global challenges from new perspectives, extending past the traditional academic boundaries at the Stockholm Explorative Talks on 23 september 2021 at the Royal College of Music (KMH) in Stockholm.

Docent Sara Hägg, together with a multidisciplinary team of KI researcher, has been awarded an NIH Prime Grant for their research on repurposing drugs for the primary prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease. The grant is for three years with the option to apply for additional two years.

Malin Nygren-Bonnier, docent and senior lecturer at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hosptial has been awarded Physiotherapist of the Year 2021, by the Swedish Association of Physiotherapists. She is honored for her work with rehabilitation after COVID-19.

Only a minority of Swedes with alcohol use disorders are prescribed alcohol medication, a situation that has remained largely unchanged in the country since the mid-2000. That is according to a study at Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Prescriptions of alcohol medication are also unevenly distributed in the society, the study found.

Akademiska hus extends free parking for staff with decals during Q4 2021. However, this does not apply to signposted or rented parkings for electric cars.

A large study at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has found a link between ADHD and dementia across generations. The study, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, shows that parents and grandparents of individuals with ADHD were at higher risk of dementia than those with children and grandchildren without ADHD.

Eivind Gottlieb-Vedi at the research group Upper GI Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Improved surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer" on September 10th, 2021. Main Supervisor is Professor Jesper Lagergren.

September 6 was the start of the new Research School in Health Science (FiH), which is a continuation of the earlier Research School in Health Care Science.

On August 27th, new international students, students at the global programs, and exchange students at Karolinska Institutet were invited to a Digital Introduction Ceremony which was broadcast live from Aula Medica in Solna.

The Nature Communications Editors’ Highlights webpage showcases a small number of articles recently published in the journal that the editors believe are particularly interesting or important, on Multidisciplinary, Life Science and Physical Sciences research.

Prolonged exposure to air pollution can be linked to an increased risk of stroke and coronary heart disease, even when levels are below the limits specified by the EU and WHO. This has been shown, among others, by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Helmholtz Zentrum München in a large European study published in The Lancet Planetary Health.

On 8 September, the German President, H.E. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf visited Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital.

Unfortunately, there have been a number of thefts both from the bicycle garage and from other places in Biomedicum during the past month.
We therefore ask you to think about locking your bikes and electric scooters properly, to not leave any valuables in the open, and
call the Biomedicum security guard if you see anything suspicious or someone unauthorized in the building.

After several years of planning and construction, 316 new apartments are now ready for researchers and students at KI to move into. Collins Santhansamy is one of the newly arrived students at KI Residence Solna.

In this consensus article, Federico Pietrocola, at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, KI, and colleagues explore the pathophysiological relevance of autophagy in human illnesses, while highlighting the therapeutic potential of autophagy-centred strategies in the clinic. This article represents a remarkable collective effort by the international autophagy community, serving a guide for basic and clinical scientists to get more insights on this fascinating process.

On Thursday 9 September, starting after 7 pm, an update will be made of ki.se incl. education.ki.se, medarbetare.ki.se and nyheter.ki.se. The websites will NOT be accessible to visitors or editors during the update.

Neuroblastoma is a type of childhood cancer that develops in infants and young children. Whilst it is a relatively rare form of cancer, it is still responsible for approximately 15 percent of all cancer deaths in children. In a new study published today in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that low-risk and high-risk neuroblastoma have different cell identities, which can affect the survival rate.

We are looking for you, who want to coordinate the pick‐up service i.e. giving international students a good first welcome to KI!

The Animal Rights Alliance (Djurrättsalliansen) is currently running a campaign to “retire” five monkeys used for research at KI. The campaign includes appeals on social media and distribution of leaflets on the Solna campus. KI uses monkeys for medical research, such as that conducted for vaccine development, when no other options are available.

From Sep 6, we will use the MEB staff portal as our internal website.

Due to the difficult situation in Afghanistan, Karolinska Institutet is now starting a fundraiser to provide Afghan researchers with the opportunity to conduct their research at KI. This is being done through a collaboration with the Scholars at Risk (SAR) network.

For the spring term 2022, the alternative selection for the medical programme (PIL), which has been cancelled for the past three terms due to the corona pandemic, is being reintroduced. However, the number admitted via PIL will be lower compared to a typical admissions cycle.

Gonçalo Castelo-Branco at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics (MBB) at Karolinska Institutet, receives the 2021 Eric K. Fernström prize for young, especially promising and successful researchers, for his significant research in the oligodendrocyte/myelin field and multiple sclerosis.
Note that the prize 2020 was advanced to 2021.

This year’s Grand Silver Medals are awarded to professors Gunnar Grant and Rune Toftgård. The medal recognises excellence in support of Karolinska Institutet and is awarded during the installation ceremony in Aula Medica on October 14.

The Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old – SWEOLD – was conducted for the first time in 1992. The aim was, and still is, to investigate what the living conditions of the population over 75 years of age look like in today's Sweden and what changes have taken place in recent years. The researchers behind the study can now describe developments over the past 30 years, a period during which there have been clear changes in welfare.

Screening for atrial fibrillation in 75- and 76-year-olds could reduce the risk of stroke, severe bleeding and death, according to a study at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that has been published in the journal The Lancet.

During September the campus gyms will be open Monday - Sunday until 10 pm.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden can now report the results of a unique pilot project where drones were used to deliver defibrillators to real-life alerts of suspected cardiac arrest. The drones were dispatched in more than a fifth of the emergencies and arrived on target and ahead of the ambulance in most cases. The results are published in the European Heart Journal and presented today at the European Society of Cardiology congress.

Hi there, Ceren Emre, PhD student at the Division of Neurogeriatrics! On September 1 you will defend your thesis ”Resolving inflammation - analysis of mechanisms in relation to Alzheimer pathology and aging”. What is the main focus of your thesis?