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This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recognizes the discovery that it is possible to treat cancer by inhibiting the brakes on the immune system. Behind their discovery lies a bold idea and eager basic research, which has led to an entirely new principle for cancer therapy and new medicines that have already been approved. Many factors contribute to rapid developments in this field—in particular, current research at Karolinska Institutet.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified four types of neurons in the peripheral auditory system, three of which are new to science. The analysis of these cells can lead to new therapies for various kinds of hearing disorders, such as tinnitus and age-related hearing loss. The study is published in Nature Communications.

In recent years access to drugs and vaccines has been increasing in many African countries, but the systems for monitoring treatment effects and reporting side-effects require further development. Karolinska Institutet will now lead an international collaboration project on pharmacovigilance – drugs safety – in four countries in East Africa.