News archive

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.

When should a questionnaire be used for data collection? What are the steps included in the development of a questionnaire? What type of questions can be included in a questionnaire? How does one formulate effective questions? How does one design rating scales? How does one avoid common mistakes when developing a questionnaire?

The Department of medical biochemistry and biophysics (MBB) receives research grants of SEK 9.8 million from the Swedish Brain Foundation. Five projects at the department receive grants from the non-profit foundation.

A Swedish registry study, performed at the National Center for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) at Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm County Council, has shown that there is no significant increase in suicide risk during the Midsummer holiday. The results of the study has been published in the Nordic Journal of Psychiatry.

Early intervention for disruptive behaviour disorders in children reduces the risk of antisocial development and psychiatric problems later in life. Parental training and child CBT are two interventions about which more needs to be known concerning the effects on disruptive behaviour disorders. According to a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, both have a positive effect on such disorders, where severity should determine the choice of treatment.

Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce open-identity sperm donation, whereby adult children are entitled to obtain information about their donors. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now explored how such contacts and relations affect the parents of these young men and women. The study, which is published in Human Reproduction, shows that mothers often find it easier to accept the new situation.

StratNeuro awards a total of 18 MSEK to six Collaborative Neuroscience Research Projects. 41 letters of intent from across 12 departments were received, of which the top ranking 1/3 (ranging seven departments at KI), were invited to submit full proposals for a second round of evaluation by an external evaluator panel.

On 1 July 2021, a new virtual centre – the Centre for Health Crises – will be established at Karolinska Institutet. The COVID-19 pandemic has indicated that in the event of acute health threats and pandemics, universities and colleges must be able to quickly change their research, education, and other activities to help solve urgent needs.

In order to assess the health and environmental risks of nanomaterials, data is needed. The effective management and reuse of data from standardised testing methods, but also from new high-efficiency and animal-free methods, is expected to accelerate and improve both research and the risk assessment of chemicals and nanomaterials.

Many diseases caused by a dysregulated immune system, such as allergies, asthma and autoimmunity, can be traced back to events in the first few months after birth. To date, the mechanisms behind the development of the immune system have not been fully understood. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet show a connection between breast milk, beneficial gut bacteria and the development of the immune system. The study is published in Cell.

Eva Karlöf at the research group Vascular Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Improving stroke risk prediction and individualised treatment in carotid atherosclerosis" on June 18, 2021. Main Supervisor is Professor Ulf Hedin.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet found industrial chemicals in the organs of fetuses conceived decades after many countries had banned the substances. In a study published in the journal Chemosphere, the researchers urge decision makers to consider the combined impact of the mix of chemicals that accumulate in people and nature.

What do you know about ATMPs? Equip yourself for the future – learn the basics of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP). Join in and take the Swedish healthcare into the future!

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet provide insight into the sequence of events leading to formation of functional mitoribosomes and sheds light on the mechanism of action of nine mitoribosome assembly factors involved in this process. The results may help yield novel opportunities for diagnosis and therapeutic intervention for mitochondrial diseases as well as cancer or diabetes.

High blood lipids and inactivity are two risk factors for atherosclerosis in humans. When the European brown bear (Ursus arctos) hibernates during winter, it is inactive for 5-6 months and also develops high blood lipids, but still show no signs of atherosclerosis.

For a little more than 1.5 years, the harmonized professional services programme has focused on coordinating work methods and processes. The programme, which is soon to be wrapped up, has been a starting point for further work.

Based on the assessment that the spread of COVID-19 is expected to decrease and that vaccinations will take place according to plan, KI is planning for a return to campus-based education during the fall semester.

Two research environments from Karolinska Institutet have been awarded grants for follow-up studies of COVID-19 vaccines. In total, six research environments from five universities will share SEK 100 million from the Swedish Research Council. The research environments are based on collaborations between different regions, and will focus on different aspects of health and medical care needs.

The Stockholm Writers Group (SWG) published an anthology entitled "Raft of Leaves: On Aging, Death and Foreignness" on 29 May 2021, in remembrance of Marti Parker (1951–2017), researcher, teacher, novelist, poet, and one of the founders of SWG.

During the holidays, fraud attempts by criminals increase, as we often have replacements in our systems, and as a result can miss deviating emails.

Starting on Monday 21 of June, Akademiska hus will continue the work of replacing the facade glass panes on Aula Medica, as these panes unfortunately have begun to break.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe the relationship between infectious agents and dementia in an article recently published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.

Jiaojiao Zheng from the research group Upper GI Surgery, the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, will defend her thesis "Diabetes, metformin and gastric adenocarcinoma" on June 11, 2021. Main Supervisor is Professor Jesper Lagergren.

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. announced their entry into an additional collaborative agreement with research groups at Karolinska Institutet, aimed at producing novel cell-based therapeutics using NK cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (“iPSCs”). Sorrento and KI are collaborative partners in NextGenNK.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated how a newly developed algorithm in connection with gene analysis can be used to improve the possibilities of preventing premature vascular disease and death in individuals with the hereditary lipid disorder, familial hypercholesterolemia. The findings, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, show how the method can lead to faster and more cost-effective investigations in such families.

On 29 May, the government announced that as of 15 June, higher education institutions may return to campus-based teaching. The recommendations issued by the Swedish Public Health Agency for containing the spread of the virus apply as much to HEIs as they do to general society, and require a responsible approach to the planning of a return to campus-based teaching.

By end of 2021 Sweden will probably have up to 100,000 Long COVID patients and globally there will be more than 20 million. These estimates are based on current rates of infection and that 10% of patients have longer term symptoms after a COVID-19 infection.

Center for Alzheimer Research (CAR) has started a working group on sex and gender differences in dementia. The group is led by Assistant professors Shireen Sindi and Daniel Ferreira at the Division for Clinical Geriatrics. It's their first working group and they are excited to see how this group will evolve.

Hi there, Ying Wang, PhD student at the Division of Neurogeriatrics! On June 23 you will defend your thesis “Neuroinflammation and its resolution in Alzheimer's disease". What is the main focus of your thesis?

It´s graduation time at Karolinska Institutet! On the third and fourth of June we celebrate graduating bachelor’s and masters’ students through live-streamed ceremonies from Aula Medica. We want to wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors and say great job – you did it!

Hi there, Gita Rajan, PhD student at the Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care! On June 22 you will defend your thesis “Sexual violence - epidemiology, treatment and access to health care". What is the main focus of your thesis?

An article in Nature Reviews Nephrology summarizes the significant role of nitric oxide in the regulation of renal function and the link to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Mattias Carlström, Associate Professor of Physiology at KI, is the author behind the article.

More knowledge is needed about risk factors for recurrent cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction. In his thesis, doctor Joel Ohm at the Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet, describes how socio-economic factors have a major impact on secondary prevention efforts and prognosis. The results may have an impact on people who have survived myocardial infarction.

A Swedish COVID-19 data portal has now been in operation for a year and forms part of a European network aimed at promoting data sharing and access to data-related resources. The data portal has contributed to increased support for a large number of research projects and publications.

By analyzing 4,000 drugs’ ability to affect cells’ capacity to produce proteins, researchers at Karolinska Institutet found that an anticancer therapy currently trialed in human patients works differently than previously thought. As many human diseases have alterations in this process called translation, the new knowledge contributes to a better understanding of how translation is regulated and the biological routes that regulate it. The study is published in PLOS Biology.

University students in Stockholm reported no tangible differences in depression, anxiety or stress during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a longitudinal study at Sophiahemmet University and Karolinska Institutet finds. The study is published today in Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.

What lessons have we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and what are the primary hurdles that must be removed to attain equitable and sustainable health? These were the focal points of the Stockholm Life Science Conference 2021 that took place on the 25th of May. Three areas that were identified as important conditions for future innovations were collaboration, communication and accessibility to data.

Joana Pereira officially starts as research group leader today, June 1, although she has been managing her own group for a while now.

This year, The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) ranks KI as the fourth best university worldwide regarding nursing. Only the University of Pennsylvania (USA), Griffith University (Australia) and Johns Hopkins University (USA) rank higher, making nursing at KI number one in Europe.

Hi there, Anna Svensson-Raskh, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy! On June 18 you will defend your thesis “Mobilization immediately after elective abdominal surgery – Respiratory effects and patients' and healthcare professionals' experiences". What is the main focus of your thesis?

The human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cancer and many countries run national vaccination programmes to minimise the risk. Studies involving researchers at German Cancer Research Center, Karolinska Institutet and Tampere University now report on the longitudinal effect of common HPV vaccines. The results, which are published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and Lancet Infectious Diseases, show lasting protection against more HPV variants than the vaccines were developed for.

Studying the implementation of public health interventions typically involves the identification of “facilitators” and “barriers”. In the case of active tuberculosis case-finding (also referred to as community-based tuberculosis screening), many studies have documented facilitators and barriers, but only few have explored the “how-to” of capitalizing on facilitators and overcoming barriers to put active case-finding into practice. This new study contributes to filling this gap.

A major effort to strengthen KI's strategic collaboration capacity has recently been achieved. This is a Vinnova-funded initiative that has been ongoing over the past three years. The lessons now learned and the results from the projects will form a natural part of KI's research and education.

On June 4th around 11:40 and 12:00 there will be a student graduation in Neo. Please avoid the entrance and the area between Neo and TAH at this time.

Continuous skin-to-skin contact starting immediately after delivery even before the baby has been stabilised can reduce mortality by 25 per cent in infants with a very low birth weight. This according to a study in low- and middle-income countries coordinated by the WHO on the initiative of researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Hi there, Lorena Galán-Acosta, PhD student at the Division of Neurogeriatrics! On June 17 you will defend your thesis “Recombinant BRICHOS domains delivered over the blood-brain barrier : a possible way to treat Alzheimer's disease”. What is the main focus of your thesis?

We are seeking healthy subjects for a brain imaging study on the effect of neuronal stimulation on learning and reward processing.

In a study published in Nature Metabolism, researchers at the department of Cell and Molecular Biology developed a novel technique to identify small molecules that can make insulin-producing β-cells divide.