News archive

Earlier studies have shown that supplementary vitamin D seems to provide a certain degree of protection against respiratory infections. A new study involving researchers from Karolinska Institutet has now made the most comprehensive synthesis to date of this connection. The study, which is published in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, confirms that vitamin D protects against respiratory infections, a result that can have significance for the healthcare services.

As one of two partners from KI in the CUREX project, LIME/HIC invites you to a workshop on Cyber Hygiene, and especially on the human aspects related to raising the cybersecurity and data privacy awareness of the workforce in the healthcare sector.

Infertility is a well-known sequela of cancer treatment. Despite guidelines recommending early discussions about risk of fertility impairment and fertility preservation options, not all patients of reproductive age receive such information.

Joanna Kvist and Maria Eriksson has been appointed professors at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet.

The standard treatment for advanced metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). And even if this is efficient in the short term, 1/3 of PCa will become resistant to ADT and develop castration-resistant prostate cancer. A new study, by Karolinska Institutet and others, shows that estrogen receptor β (ERβ) agonists together with ADT could be considered useful in the treatment.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, and The Wenner-Gren Institute at Stockholm University have conducted research within the field of bacterial meningitis and found how bacteria interact with neurons causing neuronal cell death. The results of their study, which started in 2019, were recently published in PloS Pathogens.

Cholinesterase inhibitors are a group of drugs recommended for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, but their effects on cognition have been debated and few studies have investigated their long-term effects. A new study involving researchers from Karolinska Institutet and published in the journal Neurology shows persisting cognitive benefits and reduced mortality for up to five years after diagnosis.

Hi there Ying Shang, PhD student at the Aging Research Center (ARC). You will be defending your thesis entitled “How can older adults combat diabetes to achieve a longer and healthier life?” on 16 April 2021. Could you tell us a little more about it?

Enoch Yi-Tung Chen has been awarded the Swedish Society for Medical Statistics (Föreningen för Medicinsk Statistik, FMS) prize for best student project in the area of medical statistics during 2020. The prize, which includes an award of 5000 SEK, was announced at the FMS annual general meeting on 25 March 2021.

An international consortium that includes researchers at Karolinska Institutet has developed a ‘double antibody’ that targets two different sites of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, thereby preventing the virus from mutating to resist the therapy. A study published in the scientific journal Nature shows that the antibody potently neutralises SARS-CoV-2 and its variants and protects against COVID-19 in mice.

Authors: Anna Beronius, Penny Nymark and Emma Wincent

Men with stable coronary artery disease who are on Viagra due to impotence seem to live longer and have a lower risk of experiencing a new heart attack, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reports.

There are many factors influencing fetal growth – genetic, nutritional, environmental, uteroplacental, and fetal factors. In a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, the aim was to further the understanding of the consequences of stress and smoking during pregnancy, the causes of intrauterine growth and asthma as well as the consequences of asthma on school performance and to explore explanations of observed associations.

Climate change can have a detrimental effect on children’s health, yet there are few studies investigating how climate change affects child health. A recent study where researchers compiled 300 articles shows that child health is affected by both direct changes in the near environment, such as increased extreme weather, and by indirect effects, such as air pollution and changing ecosystems. The study was conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in Lancet Planetary Health.

SRP Diabetes organize a new webinar series - "Diabetes Fridays" with internationally recognized speakers in the area of diabetes and metabolism, often in combination with a talk by a researcher from KI or UmU on a similar topic as the external guest.

Most drugs operate via the membranes that surround the body’s cells. A study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet has now mapped the structure and mechanism of MGST2, a membrane enzyme that, amongst other things, plays a part in chronic inflammation and cancer. The study, which is published in the journal Nature Communications, can make a significant contribution to the development of future drugs.

Manar Yanes from the research group Upper GI Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend his thesis "Antireflux surgery in the prevention of supra-esophageal cancer and mortality" on March 26, 2021. Main Supervisor is Jesper Lagergren.

While the drug tamoxifen reduces the risk of developing breast cancer and prevents recurrence, the side-effects cause many women to discontinue their treatment. A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm has now found that a much lower dose than the standard produces a good effect with fewer adverse reactions in women who have yet to enter the menopause. The study, which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, can play a significant role in the treatment.

Using artificial intelligence and mobile digital microscopy, researchers hope to create screening tools that can detect precursors to cervical cancer in women in resource-limited settings. A study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and University of Helsinki now shows that AI screenings of pap smears carried out with portable scanners were comparable to analyses done by pathologists. The results are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

More than 1,200 people with rare diseases have received a diagnosis thanks to the integration of large-scale genomics into the Stockholm region’s healthcare system. This is according to a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that analysed the result of the first five years of collaboration on whole genome sequencing between Karolinska University Hospital and SciLifeLab. The work, published in Genome Medicine, constitutes a major leap forward in the emerging field of precision medicine.

KI's President has decided on a climate strategy as part of KI's contribution to a more sustainable world. The strategy is to be followed up by an action plan with more concrete measures with everything from the purchasing of goods and services to reducing CO2 emissions from travel.

Planning and implementing public health interventions, such as screening, requires careful consideration of the benefits and harms for the people targeted, communities and the health system more broadly.
In a study recently published in PLOS One, researchers at Karolinska Institutet aimed to understand how experts perceive the benefits and harms of community-based tuberculosis screening, also known as active case-finding, for people with presumptive tuberculosis and communities.

Initially, the work was sluggish for the members of the project group Accounting within the programme 'A harmonized professional services'. Over the past few months, they have developed a collaboration that has profoundly changed the way they work.

Regardless of what you study at Karolinska Institutet, you can turn to the student and the doctoral student ombudspersons Nazira Hammoud Shahwan and Ninna Oom on various issues concerning your student rights and study environment.

- It is very exciting to meet many different students and learn about their life stories. It is impressive what some students achieve and get through during their studies, says Nazira Hammoud Shahwan.

Today's research is generating more and more big data, which means that the demand for bioinformatics and biostatistics is growing. Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital are therefore establishing a new centre at Campus Flemingsberg that will offer expertise and networking opportunities for the preclinical and clinical research environment in the area.

Intake of a high-fat diet leads to an increased risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver. A study in mice from Karolinska Institutet shows that it is possible to eliminate the deleterious effects of a high-fat diet by lowering the levels of apolipoprotein CIII (apoCIII), a key regulator of lipid metabolism. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

An opportunity to be recognized for your pedagogical achievements, apply to the Pedagogical Academy.

The KI Ethics Council has issued a statement condemning the increasingly hostile tone of debate, especially in connection with COVID-19.

XNK Therapeutics AB (“XNK”) has entered into a joint Phase II clinical study to treat patients with multiple myeloma using XNK’s drug candidate in combination with Sanofi’s anti-CD38 antibody Sarclisa (isatuximab)

SRP Diabetes PI Juleen R. Zierath receives the 2021 Harold Rifkin Award for Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes from American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Igor Adameyko and Gonçalo Castelo-Branco have been awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize 2021. The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and consists of a research grant of SEK 5.1 million each, spread over three years, with a personal prize of SEK 250,000.

The number of suicides decreases among adults, but increases among young people. Schools often ask how to get better at talking about suicide and mental health with their students. Therefore, Suicide Zero, Mind, SPES and NASP, who stand behind the project Stör Döden, have produced an educational material for teachers in high school.

Nicolas Gustavo Guyon, PhD student at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet is co-author of an article recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience which shows how dysfunctional inhibition impairs neuronal activity ability to synchronize, yet paradoxically boosts brain oscillations usually correlated with cognition.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are investigating the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in a new study on patients with compromised immune systems, who can become seriously ill if they are affected by COVID-19. On February 23, the first patient in the study was vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine at Karolinska University Hospital. So far, the project has received two grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation of SEK 10 million in total.

Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm have been working together for just under a year to increase the pace of introduction of precision medicine, which briefly means diagnostics, treatment and follow-up at the right time and adapted to the patient's individual circumstances. In this collaboration, the establishment of a virtual precision medicine centre has been a priority.

In a recent study published in Psychological Medicine, researchers from Karolinska Institutet showed that different types of screen-use may have contrasting effects on adolescent mental health; some are detrimental while others may benefit psychological wellbeing. For example, boys who played video games regularly at age 11 had lower depression scores at age 14.

Parents that experienced the death of a child had a 15 percent higher risk of atrial fibrillation, according to a study carried out by researchers at the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet. The study was recently published in the European Heart Journal.

In order to understand a disease, we first have to be able to describe it correctly.

How have social distancing and quarantine measures affected older individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic? Recent research lead by Professor Miia Kivipelto’s team provides some important insights – there were several negative effects but at the same time many lifestyles and behaviors did not substantially change during the first wave of the pandemic, and some even improved.

The Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity decided this year to distribute SEK 164 million in research grants to projects to improve the quality of life of older people.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet show how a certain type of immune cells, macrophages, can be recruited into breast cancer tumors, where they are reprogrammed to support and drive tumor growth. In a study published in the scientific journal PNAS, they describe that low levels of the tumor suppressor protein TAp73 lead to hyperactivation of NFkB signaling and an inflammatory condition in breast cancer as well as secretion of molecules that recruit tumor-promoting macrophages into the tumor.

Karolinska Institutet has decided to cancel alternative selection for the medicine programme (PIL) and dentistry programme (TAPIL) for autumn semester 2021. Instead, for the autumn semester 2021 admission round, the only selection criteria for these programmes will be grades (66%) and the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (34%).

Many researchers agree that shifting to a more plant-based diet is an important step towards reducing our impact on the climate. A new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet describes the development and test of a new method of providing sustainable school lunches. The new lunch resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in climate impact with no increase in cost or decrease in consumption.

A large brain imaging study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet demonstrates that same-sex sexual behaviour-related differences in the brain exist. Patterns in the brain that differentiate between men and women were less pronounced in non-heterosexual individuals, and some of the brain differences could be linked to a genetic predisposition for non-heterosexuality. The study is published in the scientific journal Human Brain Mapping.

Despite the importance of enzyme-substrate reactions in biology and medicine, there is a lack of general and unbiased tools for identifying substrate proteins for a given enzyme of interest. Scientists from Karolinska Institutet have now developed a new proteomics method called “System-wide Identification and prioritization of Enzyme Substrates by Thermal Analysis” (SIESTA). Their study is published in Nature Communications.

AIMBE fellows represent two percent of the top scientists working in medicine and life science, and are regularly recognised for their contribution in teaching, research and innovation. Yihai Cao was recently elected to become one of them.

Swedish Foundations' Starting Grant 2020 is awarded to KI researcher, Carl Sellgren Majkowitz for his research in schizophrenia.

Liver transplantation is currently the only treatment available for the severe liver disease PSC. Now, however, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Oslo University have discovered the first reported genetic mutation that causes PSC. The study, which is published in Science Translational Medicine, opens new paths to future treatments.

Karl Ekwall, from the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition (BioNut), is one of the new elected members of the Faculty Council. The new members’ mandate periods are 1 January 2021 through 31 December 2023.

The European Commission has launched a contingency plan to meet the challenge of the various mutations of the coronavirus. KI and Karolinska University Hospital are contributing to a new network for the evaluation and testing of new vaccines.