News archive

Karolinska Institutet organizes every fall an Installation Ceremony where new professors at KI are presented and academic prizes are awarded. Leader for the research group Global Child Health and the Sustainable Development Goals Tobias Alfvén was one of the 17 new professors that were ceremoniously installed at KI on 12 October.

Are you a teacher, clinical supervisor or involved in education? If so, our spring courses are now open for registration. Come and join us to develop and deepen your pedagogical competence next term!

One of our partner universities, the City University of London, came to visit KI and KI Housing offered them guided tours of our accommodation area “KI Residence Flemingsberg”.

Tips from Grants Office regarding current calls

This is a short summary of the information meeting that Maria Eriksdotter, Dean of KI South, together with the departmental heads of BioNut and MedH, held on 25 October on Zoom addressing all staff at BioNut and MedH.

KI RIMS is KI's new Research Information Management System. Starting from October 25, you as an employee or affiliate can log in and see and manage the information that has been collected about you.

Delivery of furniture to touchdown seats and pods is around the corner, which requires emptying and moving the storage furniture in the corridors on floors 7 and 8 of the ANA Futura office building.

At the initiative of the SOF Steering Committee, a research retreat was held to bring researchers from KI Dental Medicine together with researchers and actors from public (Folktandvården AB) and private (Praktikertjänst AB) dentistry in Stockholm.

KI researcher Carl Sellgren has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlströms Minnesfonds pris 2023 (Bjarne Ahlström Memorial Fund Prize 2023) for his research in clinical neurology and how the loss of synapses (contacts between cells) in the brain could be a possible cause of schizophrenia.

On a sunny afternoon in October, several hundred people gathered in the Aula Medica at Karolinska Institutet in Solna. Study participants in the extensive SNAC-K study had been invited by the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center foundation and Karolinska Institutet (KI) to hear about the latest research findings from the study.

In recent years, there have been rapid advancements in the field of computational pathology, which refers to the application of computational methods in pathology workflows. Traditional pathology involves the study of diseases by examining tissues, organs, and bodily fluids. In computational pathology, digital pathology images are analyzed using computer algorithms to extract meaningful information.

This week, 23-29 October, is the International Open Access Week. On this year's theme, Community over Commercialization, the University Library is meeting with committed individuals with slightly different perspectives on the changing landscape of academic publishing. 

Max Gordon, Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, and Chief Physician at Danderyd Hospital, is awarded for his research on artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The Swedish AI of the Year award (Årets AI svensk) is presented to a person who has contributed to the development and visibility of Swedish AI.

Maria Creignou from the Hematology Unit (HERM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending her thesis: "Improving prognostication for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes" on 27 October 2023. Main supervisor is Professor Eva Hellström Lindberg (MedH).

”Of course, I want society to benefit from my research, but...”

Taking place in Stockholm on 11-12th October the ENBEL transdisciplinary conference brought together researchers, policy makers, NGOs and private sector representatives to present and discuss climate change effects on health, as well as adaptation, societal consequences, and opportunities for climate resilient development. One of the main objects of the EU-funded project is to enhance collaboration between health, environmental and climate research.

Hi Lisa Herulf Scholander, doctoral student at the Division of Occupational Therapy. On November 10 you will defend your thesis ”Narrative relations: resources for meaning-making and person-centred practices in geriatric care”. What is the main focus of the thesis?

Professor Lisa Juntti-Berggren at Karolinska Institutet is awarded the Swedish Society of Medicine's Jubilee Prize 2023 for her studies on Apolipoprotein CIII and diabetes mellitus. The awardee is rewarded with SEK 150,000 and the SLS centenary medal in silver.

A training programme hosted by KI and partners in Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia and Uganda has led to concrete changes at policy level and on the ground. “It is having a huge impact”, says Dr. Miriam C.A. Wagoro, Associate Professor at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and part of the coordinating committee.

On 1 October, there was a change in Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg's research group Health Systems and Policy, (HSP). Three of the teams in HSP will now become their own research groups following a joint decision by the department management. The new groups are led by Claudia Hansson, Tobias Alfven, and Johan von Schreeb.

Nearly 800 first term students from KI's educational programmes participated in the Interprofessional Learning Day (IPL Day) on 17 October 2023.

Tips from KI Grants Office about current calls.

Last Wednesday (11 October), the Research Funding Commission presented its report to Minister of Education Mats Persson. Its findings are likely to inform a forthcoming bill reflecting the government’s research and innovation policy.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a microscale device for implantation in the eye, which presents new opportunities for cell-based treatment of diabetes and other diseases. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

We congratulate Virginia Stone, who has been awarded the 2023 Johnny Ludvigsson Prize for Younger Childhood Diabetes Researchers in Sweden.

A new thesis from Karolinska Institutet focuses on cancer prevention by investigating the factors and outcomes associated with false-positive mammography recalls, a fairly common event where women are called back for additional tests after an initial screening, but no cancer is detected during the follow-up. A second aim of the thesis was to further our understanding of the association between breast cancer risk factors in women and cancer risk among their relatives, particularly sisters.

New perimeter security measures are being introduced at KI’s premises this autumn. Anyone wanting to enter a building at KI will now need both a card and a code.

To constantly develop KI as a study- and workplace, we need to learn from past events. Therefore, it is important that you report if you experience deviations in the work environment.

Tülay Lindberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Dental Medicine represented KI at the ceremony.

KI and Karolinska University Hospital have signed a memorandum of understanding with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe’s largest and most eminent university hospitals and medical universities. The signing of the MoU intensifies cooperation between the organisations.

First the hot dogs – then the diplomas, speeches, fanfares and applause. Tradition prevailed on 12 October as 17 new professors were ceremoniously installed at KI.

The survival rate in lung cancer has increased considerably, albeit from low levels. Oncologist Simon Ekman wants to contribute to better treatments in the future by studying two problems in lung cancer: drug resistance and brain metastases.

Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals group member Anna-Theresia Ekman had her halftime seminar October 9 for her PhD project titled: Prevalence, associated risk factors, and early detection of developmental delay and disabilities among young children living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tobias Alfvén researches to improve the health of the world’s children. His research ranges from studies on clinical improvements to organisational issues on how to conduct development collaborations in society.

The upcoming salary review is preliminary planned to the Autumn/Winter of 2023/2024. A new central collective agreement for government employers (including KI) has been negotiated between the Swedish Agency for Government Employers and the central union parties, and valid from 1st of October.

Christoph Ziegenhain recently started at MBB as a research group leader for a group who is shedding light on central molecular processes in human cells.

The immune system of individual organs may be something entirely different from the immune system that circulates the blood. Niklas Björkström is conducting research into the immune system of, among other things, the liver and the uterus.

Computer games and social media are designed to draw us in and keep us engaged – something that can be particularly difficult for people with neuropsychiatric disorders. Lisa B. Thorell researches ADHD and the link between digital media and mental health problems.

Peter Bergman is charting mechanisms of the nonspecific immune system and the genetics behind immunodeficiency diseases. His research on endogenous antibiotics can give rise to new treatments to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Mattias Lissing from the Gastroenterology and Rheumatology Unit, at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending his thesis: "Liver transplantation, cancer risk and comorbidity in acute porphyria" on 20 October 2023. Main supervisor is Staffan Wahlin (MedH).

On October 5, the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet organized a roundtable discussion on the political economy of adolescent mental health and well-being in Sweden. Around thirty key stakeholders contributed to an afternoon of discussion, insightful perspectives and to building bridges for collaboration.

It began with a text message in the early hours of the morning. A few hours later he was on a plane to Morocco, reading the first reports and trying to start a secondary data analysis of the situation. Within the 48 hours after the earthquake, he was in the most affected region. He had barely gotten back from that mission, when he was asked to go to Libya and to do the same thing all over again, this time in a heavily flooded town.

Chewing gum, acupressure, vaccine. There have been numerous attempts to stop nausea. We have interviewed the researchers who are examining an important revolutionary mechanism that makes us feel sick.

On September 27th, 200 teachers and staff involved in education at KI gathered for Educators' Day. Here you will find pictures, materials and short interviews.

A team of researchers from Karolinska Institutet and University of Glasgow has developed a new test that can accurately measure biological aging in a clinical setting. The discovery was made while studying patients for the aging effects of chronic kidney disease.

In two parallel projects, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been involved in creating the most comprehensive atlases of human brain cells to date. The two studies, which are published in Science, provide clues on different brain diseases and give hope for medical advancements in the future, such as new cancer drugs.

Rockefeller University and Karolinska Institutet announce the availability of funding for one postdoctoral training position in basic science at Rockefeller University in New York city, New York, USA. This fellowship is part of the Nicholson Exchange Program established between Rockefeller and Karolinska Institutet.

This call is now open. Deadline Monday November 6, 2023.

Tips from Grants Office regarding current calls

Mattias Günther, an anaesthetist at Södersjukhuset and researcher at Karolinska Institutet, participates in the Radio Sweden P1's programme Kropp och Själ (Body and Soul) and explains, among other things, how to stop heavy or hard-to-reach bleeding using a balloon called REBOA.

Occupational exposure limits (OELs) for chemicals are based on 8 hours of work per day, 5 days per week, day time. However, many people have ”unusual” working hours, i.e. work more than 8 hours per shift, more than 40 hours per week, or at night. The Nordic Expert Group (NEG) has reviewed the scientific support for combined effect of unusual working hours (shift work or extended working hours) and chemical exposure.