News archive

Karolinska Institutet awards grants from a large number of foundations and from donations. The foundations & donations award research and travel grants.

Matthias Löhr, Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology – CLINTEC, has been awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) for his long-standing and significant contributions to pancreatic research and clinical development.

MedH researchers Christina Alexandrou and Marie Löf, together with their co-authors, have been awarded the Best Cited RCT 2023 prize by the highly regarded journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (IJBNPA).

Matthew Hunt at Karolinska Institutet is one of the recipients of the IBSA Foundation Fellowships 2025. He is awarded the fellowship for a research project on new treatment strategies for aggressive skin cancer.

Pär Nordlund is an internationally prominent researcher who successfully combines excellence in basic research with tangible societal impact. By translating groundbreaking discoveries into successful companies, he has contributed to accelerating the development of new medicines and strengthening the link between academia and industry. He is now awarded the 2026 Prize for Innovation and Utilisation.

Anders Jahre Senior Medical Prize 2026 is awarded to Professor Ole Kiehn, Karolinska Institutet and University of Copenhagen. Professor Kiehn receives the main Jahre prize for his groundbreaking discoveries on the organisation of and the function of neural circuits that control movements. These are findings of great significance for the treatment of disorders such as ALS and Parkinson’s disease.

Per Uhlén, professor of cell signalling at Karolinska Institutet, is awarded the 2026 Lennart Nilsson Award for his pioneering development of advanced microscopy methods that visualise the fundamental processes of life.

Docent Marcus Buggert at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, is awarded the Eric K. Fernström prize for particularly promising and successful researchers, for his remarkable research on the function of T cells in the human immune system and their importance for new therapies.

David Marlevi's research on new imaging technology for blood pressure measurement has been recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and included in the IVA 2026 list for research projects with particularly high impact. The list highlights research that makes a major difference in society.

Three people are to receive Karolinska Institutet’s Grand Silver Medal, and a further two KI’s Silver Medal. These two classes of medal are awarded to people who have made tremendous or excellent efforts, respectively, in support of KI’s activities during their careers, and will be presented at this October’s installation ceremony.

The committee for higher education has decided to award Nicola Orsini and Karin Garming Legert KI's Pedagogical Prize in 2026.
The prize is awarded during the inauguration ceremony in Aula Medica in October.

The Swedish Developmental Biology Organization (SWEDBO) has awarded Sandra de Haan at Karolinska Institutet its prize for the best doctoral thesis. The thesis focuses on how the inner ear develops and provides new knowledge about how cells in the cochlea are organised.

Laura Fratiglioni, senior professor at NVS, was awarded the honor of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy at a symposium on healthy aging at the Italian Embassy on April 28. She received the honor in recognition of her groundbreaking research in aging.

Every year, the Bengt Fridlund Prize is awarded to an individual who has made a significant scientific contribution in the field of cardiovascular medicine. This year’s recipient of the prize is Andreas Claesson, who works at the Department of Clinical Science and Education at Södersjukhuset.

KI researcher Mai‑Lis Hellenius has been named the winner in the Health category of the Most Promising Over 60 award 2026. She receives the award in recognition of her long‑standing and dedicated work to make research on lifestyle and health understandable, relevant, and accessible to a broad audience.

Professor Anna Martling at Karolinska Institutet has been elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Surgical Association (ASA), one of the world’s most prestigious surgical organisations. The election was conferred at the ASA Annual Meeting in Seattle on 23 April 2026.

Torbjörn Tomson, professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, has been awarded the European Epileptology Award. The award is presented by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), and Tomson is receiving it in recognition of his work to advance knowledge of anti-epileptic drugs and epilepsy during pregnancy, amongst other achievements.

Karin Leander is awarded Karolinska Institutet’s Sustainability Award for her commitment to integrating climate, environmental and sustainability perspectives into the medical programme. Through pedagogical initiatives and a digital tool, she contributes to strengthening future physicians’ competence for a more sustainable healthcare system. The award was presented on 16 April in conjunction with KI’s Sustainability Day.

Andrew P. Feinberg, Foreign Adjunct Professor within the Translational Psychiatry research group at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, has been awarded the 2026 AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research.

Professor Karl-Johan Malmberg is awarded Tobiaspriset 2026 for his research on cell-based immunotherapy for blood cancers. The prize sum of SEK 10 million will be allocated at SEK 2 million per year over a five-year period.

In less than two years, Professor Robert Harris at Karolinska Institutet has reached more than 16 million people through his engagement on the social media platform LinkedIn. He has now been admitted to Le Centile, an exclusive international network for leading digital creators.

Rachel Fisher, together with Louisa Cheung and Jurga Laurencikiene, has been awarded the Prize for Internationalisation in Teaching and Learning 2026, a joint national award from the medical faculties in Sweden, for the international education initiative BalticSeaBioMed.

Malin Granbom Koski receives the Swedish Medical Association's Candidate and Junior Physician Association's Asklepios Prize for best scientific article 2025. The study presents clinically significant findings and provides important information for how doctors can assess patients' risks before interventions on the aorta and aortic valve.

Niek van Bree, previously a doctoral student at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the 2025 Dan Grandér Research Prize for his thesis “Development of Translational Models and Identification of Novel Therapeutic Targets for Medulloblastoma”. This annual award recognises the best doctoral thesis in cancer research at Karolinska Institutet.

Two Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships and a Walter-Benjamin-Postdoctoral Fellowship (German Research foundation, DFG) have been granted to outstanding early-career scientists at the Division of Molecular Metabolism (MolMet) at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics. The fellowships are highly competitive and prestigious.

The Lundbeck Foundation in Denmark has awarded Professor Patrik Ernfors The Brain Prize 2026 for groundbreaking discoveries about how the nervous system interprets touch and pain. His research has clarified key aspects of somatosensation, the body’s ability to sense the physical world, and opened new opportunities for developing treatments for long lasting pain. He shares the prize with Professor David Ginty, Harvard Medical School.

The prize recognizes researchers/research students who have distinguished themselves through outstanding utilization of research results that have led to innovation.

Professor Anna Dimberg at Uppsala University is awarded the prize for her outstanding discoveries of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in brain tumors and their pivotal role in activating an effective immune response against cancer.

Professor Ute Römling at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology is, among 63 fellows, elected to the American Academy of Microbiology.

The Lennart Nilsson foundation was established in 1998 in order to bestow an award in recognition of the world-renowned Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson and his extraordinary body of work. Its main aim is to promote education, training and research within the medical, biological and engineering sciences through the use of images.

Birgitta Henriques- Normark, at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded a medal, 12th size with the ribbon of the Order of the Seraphim, by HM the King.

The prize is intended for newly graduated PhDs, or alternatively doctoral candidates in the final year of their doctoral studies. To be eligible for nomination, candidates must not have reached the age of 32 at the time of nomination.

The Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of Sports (SCIF) has named Eva Jansson, professor emerita at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, as the 2025 recipient of the Major Sports Research Award for an experienced researcher.

If a person damages the brain or spine, nerve cells do not regenerate spontaneously. The mechanism has been there since the embryonic stage, but is not activated. Enric Llorens Bobadilla and his research group at Karolinska Institutet are trying to find which genes should be turned on to create new nerve cells. A new film about their work is now available.

The medals are awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to support KI's activities and are available in three categories: the gold medal, the large silver medal, and the silver medal.

Richard Rosenquist Brandell has been named Pharmaceutical Profile of the Year 2025 for his dedicated work in building a national infrastructure for precision medicine. The award is presented by Läkemedelsmarknaden in collaboration with Dagens Medicin and Dagens Industri.

Hello Bea Uusma, who received the August Prize in the non-fiction category for "Vitön", the continuation of the similarly August Prize-winning book "The Expedition: My Love Story" which was published in 2013. Both are about Bea Uusma's attempt to finally solve the mystery of how the members of the Andrée expedition died on Vitön in 1897. Bea Uusma is an affiliated researcher at the Unit for the History and Cultural Heritage of Medicine at Karolinska Institutet.

Harald Lund has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström Memorial Fund Prize for research in clinical neurology, with a particular focus on inflammatory mechanisms that affect the function of the central or peripheral nervous system.

The director of the Centre for Health Crises, Johan von Schreeb, surgeon and professor of global disaster medicine at Karolinska Institutet is awarded the Forska!Sverige Honorary Award for his outstanding commitment to reducing suffering around the world and for his leading research in a field that is becoming increasingly relevant also in Sweden.

Professor Mona Ståhle has been awarded the Sven Hellerström Medal by the Swedish Society of Medicine for her significant contributions to dermatological research. The award committee highlights how, over four decades, she has been a visionary leader at Karolinska Institutet, particularly in psoriasis research, and has educated an entire generation of clinician-scientists in Sweden

The 50th annual meeting of the Scandinavian Society for Immunology (SSI) took place in Stockholm on 15-17 October. During the conference the SSI Young Investigator Award was presented to recipients from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Paediatric allergist and KI researcher Caroline Nilsson has been awarded this year's Mogren Prize in Medicine, Sweden's largest prize for clinically active doctors. The prize money of SEK 250,000 is motivated by her work to link patient encounters directly to research, which has a life-changing effect on children with severe food allergies.

The motivation from the jury: "For identifying key viral mechanisms used by hantaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 to disrupt cellular functions, thereby laying the foundation for the development of new antiviral drugs."

Tilen Trselic, a doctoral student at the Department of Medicine, Solna, has been awarded the 2025 Cilla Weigelt Prize for his research on Sjögren’s syndrome, a rare rheumatic disease that primarily affects women. The prize includes a personal scholarship and a research grant to promote scientific exchange.

KI researcher Samir EL Andaloussi has been awarded the Swedish Society for Medical Research’s (SSMF) Jubilee Prize of SEK five million for his groundbreaking research in gene therapies that could revolutionise the treatment of hard-to-treat diseases. The recipient will also receive an honorary medal presented by H.M. The Queen on 17 October.

The Biophysical Society has selected Erdinc Sezgin, Associate Professor at Karolinska Institutet, SciLifeLab and the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, as the recipient of the 2026 Early Independent Career Award. The award recognises his outstanding work combining chemistry, physics, biology and computer science to advance fundamental and translational insights into how the biophysics of cells influence health and disease.

Emma Johansson, Senior Consultant and Associate Professor at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the Ellis and Ivar Janzon Prize 2025 by the Swedish Society of Medicine. The prize recognizes scientific excellence in the fields of dermatology and venereology and will be presented at the society’s annual ceremony on 21 October 2025.

Dr M. Madan Babu, this year's Ulf von Euler lecturer, wants to understand how cells control and regulate their various functions. Through his research, he aims to reveal why certain diseases arise when the regulation in cells does not function as it should. Dr Babu works at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, USA.

Xinxin Luo, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Medicine, Solna, has been awarded the Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize 2025. The prize of USD 10,000 is intended for recent PhD graduates or doctoral students in their final year of doctoral studies. The aim is to encourage young, promising researchers. Xinxin Luo is recognised for her research on how inflammation, tissue damage and healing processes interact in the intestine.

Marianne van Hage, professor at Karolinska Institutet, has received Europe’s most prestigious research award in allergy – the Paul Ehrlich Prize. She is the first Swede ever to receive the award, thanks to her groundbreaking research in molecular allergology and on the tick-induced food allergy, the alpha-Gal syndrome.